Drivers are frustrated with sitting in their cars, says Collins

Mr Collins told the Conservatives annual conference a Tory government would target cutting journey times - something he said the government did not even as an aspiration.

In his speech in Blackpool, Mr Collins also said the Tories would tell police to concentrate on "really dangerous" drivers, not easy speeding offences.

The London Ambulance Service say more die because ambulances are slowed than are saved by the bumps Tim Collins Shadow transport secretary

And he reaffirmed his party's promise to review Britain's speed limits, saying that was likely to mean raising the limit to 80mph on motorways while making it 20mph or less near schools or small communities.

Mr Collins said tackling journey times would "address the frustration of millions - that it takes longer and longer to get home from work, get goods to market or visit friends".

"As technology advances, we expect many things to get better year by year," he went on. "It shows the poverty of ambition of the left that their aim on transport is just to manage decline into ever greater misery."

Mondeo Man

The shadow minister attacked the extra costs put on British motorists since Labour came to power in 1997.

"Ten years ago, Mr Blair used to tell a story. While canvassing, he met a man washing his Mondeo, who said he'd never dream of voting Labour.

"Mr Blair spend years wooing Mondeo Man. What he never said that in office he'd try to ensure the only thing you could afford to do with a Mondeo is wash it."

Mr Collins said the government, however unintentionally, was to blame for the failure to cut the number of deaths on the roads.

'Easy catches'

Labour policy had stopped building new, safer roads, he said, while speed cameras had been used to replace, instead of help, traffic patrols.

"So under Labour the numbers caught for driving without a licence or proper insurance have fallen by 10%," he said. "The numbers caught for driving with a defective car have fallen by 30%.

"Yet the number of speeding tickets issued to people who have correctly registered their car has shot up by 250%.

"So generally safe, generally responsible drivers are pursued ruthlessly for every mistake they make - while the really dangerous and irresponsible drivers, those without a licence, without insurance, without a safe car are let off time and time again...

"We will tell the police and the courts to concentrate not on easy catches but on the really dangerous drivers."

With much more public money spent on rail safety than road safety in relative terms, the Tories say the prospects of saving many lives has been sacrificed on attempts to save a few.

'Wrong priorities'

Mr Collins said: "Because of it, we saw a collapse in rail performance after Hatfield (rail disaster), causing many to switch to riskier road journeys.

"In the same way thousands of speed bumps were constructed, often thoughtlessly - when the London Ambulance Service say more die because ambulances are slowed than are saved by the bumps."

A Tory government, by contrast, would target the big risks, and would not "rush to feed the frenzy of dangerous speculation encouraging people to switch to the roads", he said.

Mr Collins also said the "bloated" Strategic Rail Authority, Britain's rail regulator, needed radically slimming down.