This week another life was taken as a result of a road traffic collision in Royton. Another family has been left devastated, and my thoughts are with them.
Our borough saw 8 people killed in 2024, that’s the highest number in a decade and of those 6 were pedestrians. There were more pedestrians killed in that single year than the previous three years combined, including children simply walking on the pavement.
None of us want to worry that our children going out to school or to meet friends might not come home, or a partner simply going to the supermarket not to return.
This is a public health emergency, and though I welcome hotspot police operations, the truth is we need more patrols on the streets every day.
There is a problem in Oldham we have to address, dangerous driving is contributing to the needless loss of life and serious injury. The data shows that the borough has 11 fatal incidents per billion miles travelled, that’s the highest in the North West of any other town or city, and it sits in 8th highest in the whole of England. The borough seen 45 lives lost on the roads and pavements over the past decade to 2024 and seen 737 serious injuries in the same period.
I will continue to press Greater Manchester Police for routine enforcement, and I’ve asked for a debate in government time on traffic policing and reducing deaths by dangerous driving.
Jim McMahon OBE MP 