The government has revealed its plans to make the UK’s roads the safest in the world.

Transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick announced plans to reduce the 60mph speed limit on single carriageway roads to 50mph.

It’s also being recommended all residential streets and roads around schools have a 20mph speed limit.

The government aims to cut the number of fatal road accidents per year from 3,000 to 2,000 by 2020.

These are the targets proposed for 2020:

• Reducing annual road deaths (currently just under 3,000) by a third
• Reducing serious injuries by a third
• Halving the number of deaths and serious injuries to children on the roads
• Halving the rate of deaths and serious injuries to pedestrians and cyclists per kilometre travelled

Should the national speed limit be cut to 50mph?

"Eight deaths a day"

Mr Fitzpatrick said: “Our current strategy has improved road safety significantly, reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries by 36 per cent over the last decade, but eight deaths a day is still intolerable and we want to make our roads safer still.

“By improving our roads, vehicles and behaviour on the roads, we aim to develop a road safety system in which mistakes on the road don't lead to death or serious injury.

“We propose to do this through smarter working with local partners, not through creating large numbers of new offences and regulation.

“We need to target action on those roads, people and behaviours most associated with death and serious injury on our roads.

"We want to make Britain's roads the safest in the world. That will mean improving vehicles and the road network as well as helping drivers and other road users to be as safe as possible.”

Driving test changes

There are also plans to revamp the driving test with the number of collisions involving 18 to 24-year-olds and newly-qualified drivers ‘unacceptably high’.

New drivers have revealed the current test did not properly prepare themselves for driving unsupervised.

The changes to the test will be delivered through a phased implementation programme, which supports progressive improvements while avoiding disruption to those currently learning to drive.

The first phase aims to deliver, over the next two years, an improved learning process, improved theory and practical driving tests, and further options for learning and qualifications.

Mr Fitzpatrick added: "The major changes to the driver training and testing process will create better prepared drivers while our plans for the next 10 years aim to make the roads and vehicles they use safer and so prevent many of the terrible crashes which cut short lives and tear families apart."

The proposals have been received positively by road safety campaigners

Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said today: "These targets are ambitious and they show a genuine commitment to reducing deaths and injuries on our roads even further.

"As casualty figures become lower, the harder it is to reduce them further, and that is why the ambitious targets in the strategy consultation are a real sign of the Government's commitment to road safety."

However, the Liberal Democrats have been critical of the government’s plans.

Lib Dem transport spokesperson Mark Hunter said: "There's one glaring gap in today's announcement.

“With 1.5 million uninsured drivers in Britain, any road safety strategy must tackle this problem. The Government has been worryingly silent on this issue."

Proposals in detail

• The formation of a new independent expert panel to identify issues and trends from fatal accidents and provide an annual report on road safety to Ministers and Parliament.

Alongside the draft strategy, a programme of measures to reform the driver training and testing process are also published today in response to the Learning to Drive consultation conducted last year. Almost 7,000 people responded to the radical plans and the Driving Standards Agency will now:

• Roll out a new voluntary pre-driver qualification in safe road use for 14-17-year-olds. Successful completion will provide a partial credit for the theory test, allowing learner car drivers to take an abridged test from October this year.

• Introduce case studies into the theory test to better assess whether learners have understood driving or riding theory, also from this October.

• Develop a new vocational qualification for van drivers, helping them to enhance the skills they need to drive for work.

• Improve the practical test by introducing an assessment of a candidate's ability to drive independently without detailed instructions from the examiner, as well as requiring the supervising driver to accompany the candidate during the test to help unsuccessful candidates understand feedback from examiners and help tailor further learning.

• Improve the content of the Pass Plus scheme to maximise both take up and the incentives offered by insurers to drivers who complete the scheme.

• Launch a trial of the new Learning to Drive syllabus, which sets out all the aspects of driving that are needed to be a safe driver.

• Bring forward proposals to modernise driver training including providing learners with more information to help them to choose an instructor.

Should the national speed limit be cut to 50mph?