‘Tremendous honour’ for former civil servant

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A former civil servant who oversaw huge improvements in road safety has been named in the New Year Honours list.

Stephen Gooding, of Haywards Heath, was made a CB (Companion of the Order of the Bath), for public service to transport.

Mr Gooding, who is now Director of the RAC Foundation, was Director-General of the Department for Transport’s Roads, Traffic and Local Group until May 2015.

“It’s a tremendous honour,” he told the Middy today.

“It’s a huge honour, and it represents a thank you, not just for my work, but for all the huge number of people I’ve worked with over the years.

“Getting this honour is really a recognition of the hard work of the huge number of people I’ve worked with over my 32 years in the civil service, throughout the transport sector, and in particular the people who have worked to promote transport safety and deliver the projects that get us where we need to be.”

Mr Gooding said he started work for the Department of Transport, as it was then known, in 1987.

“The Transport Minister used to say that twelve times a day, a policeman has to knock on someone’s door, and tell them their husband, wife, or father isn’t coming home,” he recalled.

“We’ve more than halved that, though there’s still a long way to go.”

He said the success was down to engineering, mostly to do with improved car designs; education, particularly to do with drink driving; and enforcement.

“Sadly, enforcement is still necessary for those who still decide to put their lives and the lives of others at risk,” he said.

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