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RAC Call to Action

1. The Price of Fuel

RAC calls on the Government to scrap the planned rise in fuel duty in August at a time when drivers are being hit by record fuel prices and are struggling to cope with the impact of high motoring costs.

RAC calls on the Government to respond to the recent report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research demonstrating that at cut in fuel duty would stimulate growth, create jobs and be fiscally neutral for the Treasury.

RAC also calls on the Government to revisit and amend the new Fair Fuel Stabiliser, which will do nothing to lower the price of fuel at the pumps as presently constructed. A proper mechanism is needed which actively reduces fuel duty in response to rising crude oil prices. Rising prices themselves would offset any reduction in tax revenue from lower fuel duty as a result of increased tax from VAT and North Sea oil taxes.

2. The 80mph Speed Limit

RAC welcomes the consultation on raising the motorway speed limit to 80mph. However, RAC calls on Government to raise the limit only on those stretches of motorway where it is appropriate to do so. Only sections of motorway whose construction and usage patterns are assessed as having suitably modern design and safety features should be upgraded to the higher limit. In addition, RAC calls on the Government to introduce more effective enforcement, in order to ensure 90mph does not become the new de facto limit.

3. Road Safety Campaigns

The new generation of drivers is in danger of missing out on vital information about the dangers of driving under the influence and using a mobile phone behind the wheel. RAC calls on Government to reintroduce high profile campaigns on the dangers of speeding, mobile phone use, drink and drug driving following the lack of such campaigns over the past two years.

4. Policing on the Roads

RAC calls on the Government to consider raising the priority of roads policing in recognition that the current approach to enforcement is encouraging poor and anti-social driving behavior.

RAC calls for more effective enforcement of the laws on hand-held mobile phone usage at the wheel. RAC also calls for businesses to increase their efforts to educate and monitor their workforce on this issue.

5. Lifelong Learning

Driving is a skill that needs to be practiced and to adapt to the changing environment on the roads and technology in the vehicle through a driver’s lifetime. RAC therefore calls for the Government to consider measures to ensure drivers can continue to develop and reassess their motoring skills from the first time they pick-up their car keys to the last.

6. Re-examine when teenagers learn about driving

RAC believes there is a lack of up-to-date information regarding the effectiveness of teaching pre-license age drivers, particularly in the UK. RAC therefore calls for a study to identify at what age pre-license tuition would be most effectively introduced, and what form, practical or theoretical, this should take.

7. Retraining of offenders

RAC calls on Government to conduct a thorough review of the effectiveness of speed awareness courses as a means of altering behaviour. Depending on the outcome, RAC also calls for the introduction of similar training for first time offenders for a wider range of motoring offences.

8. Insurance

RAC welcomes the recent Government initiative to reduce whip-lash claims and calls for introduction of stricter rules on the pursuing of insurance claims on a wider range of personal injuries in order to reign-in the burgeoning ‘compensation culture’ and limit insurance costs overall for drivers in the UK.

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7.0 Conclusion