Road safety experts slam texting Peer's early release

Road safety experts from the Local Authority Road Safety Officers' Association (LARSOA) have branded the early release of Labour peer Lord Ahmed following charges of dangerous driving as setting an irresponsible precedent.

The peer was jailed for 12 weeks last month on charges relating to an collision on the M1 where a man was killed, but was freed yesterday (Thursday 12 th March) after serving only 16 days of his sentence

David Frost, LARSOA's Press and PR Officer said:

"The early release of Lord Ahmed sends a message that as a driver it is possible to carry out dangerous driving behaviour while behind the wheel and not have to face the consequences.

"It would appear that Lord Ahmed has been released early because of the potential damage that would be caused to his ability to carry out community work in the future, but that decision disregards the damage that has been caused to the family and friends of the man who was killed as a result of his actions.

"Anyone convicted of a motoring offence has committed a crime and as such should serve out their full sentence to send out a clear deterrent to all road users.

"Driving is a task that requires 100% concentration and anything that takes attention away from keeping control of your vehicle such as sending a text message or smoking a cigarette can have potentially fatal results."

ABOUT LARSOA

LARSOA is a national road safety organisation representing road safety officers (RSOs) employed in local government across the UK.

LARSOA represents 185 of the 200 eligible local authorities across the UK, assisting RSOs to fulfil their statutory role to reduce the number and severity of road casualties through education, training and publicity programmes.

LARSOA publishes an up-to-date round-up of road safety news from across the UK on its website www.larsoa.org.uk .

LARSOA also aims to influence national debate - government policy and action together with public opinion. The association works to achieve national recognition for road safety issues, commissions research into behaviour which contributes to road collisions and develops national road safety campaigns.

The association assists in identifying achievable national targets to reduce the number of collisions on the country's roads.