IAM chief executive Simon Best said: “We welcome the Select Committee’s report; it highlights the potentially lethal combination of reducing investment in road safety while scrapping casualty targets.

“The recommendations for improving reports and sharing good practice are needed. However, we would like to see more suggestions on how to bring the worst councils up to the level of the best. It’s simply not fair that people are much more likely to die in a road accident in some areas than they are in others. The government should be held accountable when it allows a local authority to fail on road safety.

“MPs are also right to raise young drivers as a priority. There is still much more that we can do in terms of training young drivers to give them the experience they need to be safe. The government could save lives and reduce insurance premiums by investing in training for young drivers beyond the L test.”