Questions over progress with government's road safety strategy
Whilst discussions around road safety on the Island have focused on the lower end of the speedometer in recent years (20mph), there are questions about what, if any, measures government might consider to improve safety on the Island's faster routes.
In 2019 Tynwald approved the 10-year Road Safety Strategy with one of the key aims being a 40 percent reduction in the annual number of people killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions.
Between 1 January 2019 and March 2025, 89 of 118 casualties happened on derestricted roads, according to the Isle of Man Constabulary.
There were annual updates from the Road Safety Partnership up until 2023, in the last of which it was stated by police that "difficult policy decisions" would need to be taken to help reduce the number of KSI collisions.
'Wealth of evidence'
Recent documents published in response to Freedom of Information requests included a Road Safety Strategy Review from the Isle of Man Constabulary which, in respect of speed limits, stated: 'The most significant higher policy decisions required at this stage are whether the benefits of an Island-wide speed limit on arterial routes outweigh the interference with personal liberty and potential economic harm.
'Whether, as an alternative, support would exist for the imposition of speed limits on sections of arterial road where serious accidents caused by excessive speed are clustered.'
The FOI request also asked for the minutes from meetings of the Road Safety Strategic Group between 2021 and 2026.
See HERE.During a 2023 meeting, a 'Partnership Update' was distributed which stated 'there is a wealth of evidence that says grossly excessive speed is the key cause of fatal accidents on the roads, clustered on arterial routes, out of town, in derestricted areas'.
Manx resident Andrew Martin is the man who submitted the Freedom of Information requests.
He questions why road safety on arterial routes hasn't been a talking point during the run-up to the General Election:
"Would you support a national speed limit?"
Discussions around derestricted roads and national speed limits didn't start in 2019, of course.
In 2006, in response to a government survey, Islanders rejected the idea of a national speed limit; there was a 55-45 split against a national speed limit from over 13,000 respondents.
But what would they say now? These shoppers in Douglas gave Manx Radio their thoughts on the Island's derestricted road system.
The Isle of Man Constabulary declined the invitation for interview at this time.
Meanwhile, in response to questions about progress with the Road Safety Strategy, a government spokesperson says: 'It isn't appropriate to comment on policy matters during the pre-election period as restrictions are in place to avoid causing any distraction from candidates’ campaigns.
'In terms of an update, there have been joint policy discussions on the road safety partnership, but no specific papers have been brought forward with political recommendations.
'Both the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Infrastructure’s resources have been focussed on other priorities, but enforcement action and work towards the strategy have continued during the current period of the strategy's operation.
'Responsibility for the strategy has transferred to the Department of Infrastructure and it will be a matter for the new administration to consider how it prioritises this work.'
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