Director of Communications and Engagement Delivers Powerful Closing Speech at Young Driver Focus 2025
The 2025 Young Driver Focus conference closed with a passionate and thought-provoking speech from Paul Steinberg, Director of Communications and Engagement at The Road Safety Trust.
Addressing delegates from across the transport, education, enforcement and policy sectors at the event on Wednesday 21 May, the speech called for a shift in how the UK approaches road safety – particularly for young drivers.
Drawing on a two-decade career in public health communications, Paul called out the reactive nature of policymaking in both public health and road safety, arguing that meaningful political action should not be reserved for moments of grief.
“Too often in public health – and also in road safety – meaningful political action arrives not with foresight, but with grief,” he said. “Change, if it comes at all, too often follows crisis.”
His address compared the early inaction during the HIV and COVID-19 pandemics to delays in adopting proven road safety interventions, such as 20mph speed limits and safer infrastructure. These delays, he argued, often come at the cost of young lives.
“Progress is too often catalysed by heartbreak,” he told the conference. “We move only after collisions – when families, reeling from unimaginable loss, are forced to become campaigners. Their grief becomes a collective call to action.”
In an inspiring call to arms, the speech urged policymakers and practitioners to show greater political courage, act on evidence, and make difficult decisions before tragedy strikes. Drawing on the example of the HIV movement – which evolved from despair to progress thanks to activism, science and community leadership – Paul said the road safety sector must learn to “act before the sirens.”
“Prevention demands more than data; it demands courage. The courage to listen to evidence, to trust experts, to make hard, sometimes unpopular decisions – and to do so before the headlines force our hand.”
The speech closed the Young Driver Focus 2025 event, a major national conference dedicated to reducing road deaths and serious injuries among young people. It brought together policymakers, road safety officers, driving instructors, academics and educators for a day of insight, challenge and collaboration.
Ruth Purdie OBE, Chief Executive of The Road Safety Trust, said:
“This was a powerful, heartfelt and timely message. It reminded all of us that we have a moral obligation to do better - and act sooner.
“We are proud of Paul’s thoughtful and informed approach to health and safety messaging and grateful for the attention this speech will bring to the urgent need for change.”
23 May 2025