IN an article on March 23, the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Bolton South-east tried to defame my good character. I want to set the record straight.
I made an intervention in the House of Commons on January 11 during the Transport Secretary's introduction to the second reading debate on the Road Safety Bill. I made reference to the number of tragic deaths there have been in Bolton South-east caused by the dangerous driving of motor vehicles.
The Conservative candidate need not have invoked the Freedom of Information Act or wasted police time to get at the truth. The truth has been recorded in the pages of your newspaper. She claims that the true figure is two - "for the whole of Bolton".
There were two deaths alone caused by a single accident in Bradford Street on May 1, 2004. That is just one of several tragedies to which I referred in the House.
She then had the audacity to allege that I had exaggerated the truth in order to win a government grant of £750,000 to improve road safety.
While I congratulated Bolton MBC for winning this grant and the government for making the money available, the record will show that I had no hand either in the application for, or award of, this money. I challenge the Conservative candidate to prove otherwise.
My constituents will know of my long-standing interest in deaths caused by dangerous driving. I have been dealing with some of the families whose lives have been shattered by these events, and I am one of several MPs who have been campaigning for changes in the law.
As a result, the government has increased the maximum sentence for the charge of death by dangerous driving.
However, as the police will confirm, it has been difficult to make this charge stick. The lower charge of manslaughter has often been applied in these cases, which brings a trivial penalty considering that the driver has killed someone.
I am pleased to say that the Road Safety Bill, now before Parliament, will give the Police greater powers.
Dr Brian Iddon
MP for Bolton South-east
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