What the new Road Safety Strategy could mean for brain injury
Last month, I attended a conference hosted by the Brain Injury Group, where the Government’s new Road Safety Strategy was discussed. It prompted an important question: could this strategy represent a genuine turning point in preventing life-changing brain injuries?
Road traffic collisions are one of the leading causes of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and often have life-changing consequences for individuals and their families. Each year, there are approximately 20,000 TBI casualties on Great Britain’s roads and around one in three TBIs are sustained in road traffic collisions.
As a trainee solicitor in the Brain Injury Team at Bolt Burdon Kemp, I see first-hand the profound and often lifelong impact road traffic collisions have on those injured and their families. While compensation is essential in providing access to rehabilitation, specialist treatment and long-term support, greater emphasis must be placed on prevention to reduce the devastating human cost of road traffic collisions.
The Road Safety Strategy explained
In January 2026, the UK Government published its first comprehensive Road Safety Strategy in over a decade, which sets out two ambitious targets to be achieved by 2035: a 65% reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured on Great Britain’s roads and a 70% reduction in the number of children under the age of 16 killed or seriously injured.
To achieve these goals, the strategy focuses on four themes:
- Supporting road users.
- Taking advantage of technology, innovation and data for safer vehicles and post-collision care.
- Ensuring infrastructure is safe.
- Robust enforcement to protect all road users.
Within each theme, the strategy sets out a range of policy proposals, interventions and commitments, including:
- Lowering the drink-drive limit from 0.08% to 0.05% blood alcohol concentration, representing the first proposed change to the legal limit in almost 60 years.
- Introducing mandatory eye tests for drivers aged 70 and over, with the potential for cognitive assessments also being explored.
- Requiring new vehicles to incorporate 18 mandatory safety technologies, including automatic emergency braking and lane-keeping systems.
- Investing in safer road infrastructure to improve the long-term condition and safety of England’s road network.
Collectively, these themes and proposals reflect a shift towards a more proactive approach to road safety, focused on preventing collisions before they occur.
The Road Safety Strategy’s potential impact on brain injury prevention
Clinical research identifies the key predictors of brain injury severity to include impact speed, direction of force and the presence of head protection.
When considered in this context, the four themes of the Road Safety Strategy align closely with these predictors of brain injury severity, indicating an intention to both improve prevention and reduce severity when collisions do occur. For example, measures aimed at:
- Supporting road users have the potential to reduce behaviours strongly associated with severe TBI, including excessive speed, distraction and impaired driving.
- Technology, innovation and safer vehicles may reduce the severity of brain injuries by reducing impact forces and improving collision outcomes. For example, automatic emergency braking can reduce collision speed or prevent an impact altogether. Additionally, improved vehicle design could help limit the sudden acceleration and rotational movement of the head during a collision, which are key factors that determine the severity of a brain injury.
- Safer infrastructure could influence the likelihood and mechanism of injury. Measures like improved junction design and better separation of road users may reduce the severity of impact forces or dangerous collision angles.
- Stronger enforcement is likely to play a critical role in deterring dangerous driving behaviours strongly associated with high-speed collisions and severe TBI.
If implemented effectively, it appears the strategy could reduce both the overall number of collisions and the severity of brain injuries when collisions occur. For those working with brain injury survivors, even modest improvements in these areas could lead to fewer life-changing injuries and better outcomes.
Concerns about the Road Safety Strategy
The publication of the Road Safety Strategy is a positive and important step towards improving safety on the UK’s roads and reducing the number of TBIs sustained in road traffic collisions. However, the strategy establishes a policy framework rather than immediately changing the law, and significant questions remain around funding and timelines.
Until these issues are clarified, it is difficult to predict the effectiveness of the strategy in practice.
Looking ahead
What is clear are the daunting statistics outlined in the strategy, which highlight the importance of supporting those who sustain life-changing injuries like TBI.
It is well established that early intervention following brain injury is crucial and can significantly improve recovery, help individuals maximise independence and, where possible, return to work, education and everyday life. Properly advised personal injury claims play an important role in ensuring rehabilitation is appropriately funded, so individuals and their families are not left to manage the consequences of brain injury alone.
If you or someone you love has suffered a brain injury as a result of a road traffic collision, contact our experienced team today.
