A South Yorkshire MP has been given a national award in recognition of her work towards improving road safety in her local area.

Caroline Flint, who represents the Don Valley constituency, received the prize from charity Brake and Direct Line Group after campaigning hard for the rollout of more 20mph zones in recent years.

Brake's deputy chief executive Julie Townsend said Ms Flint had demonstrated "longstanding commitment to 20mph limits and safer streets".

The road safety specialist highlighted the many benefits of lower maximum speeds, including safer local environments and more people being encouraged to walk and cycle, benefiting both their health and the environment.

A high-profile MP, Ms Flint has worked since 1998 to increase the number of 'home zones' with low speed limits in order to improve safety in residential areas. She has also helped to tackle other road safety problems, such as the need for more pedestrian crossings in villages and illegal parking on zig-zag lines.

In addition, the politician has pressed for local communities to be able to set speed limits and backed a successful campaign in Austerfield to reduce the maximum speed through the village from 40mph to 30mph, despite some opposition from councillors.

Ms Flint, who is also the Labour shadow energy and climate change secretary, said that road safety has been a "critical issue" for her since she became an MP.

"In my experience, more schools and communities are wanting 20mph limits and they deserve to be listened to," she added, thanking Brake for the award and wishing the organisation the best with its future campaigning.

The South Yorkshire representative has influenced neighbouring MPs Ed Miliband and Rosie Winterton to campaign for 20mph limits in their own constituencies and has worked with Doncaster's directly elected mayor to ensure that the first 20mph limits were rolled out across nine schools in the borough during 2013, with plans for further activity in 2014.

Brake has been pushing hard for more 20mph speed limits across the UK and its GO 20 campaign is intended to create safer communities where people walk and cycle more.

Travelling at 20mph can save lives as drivers have more time to stop in an emergency, protecting those on foot and bikes. Brake wants to see 20mph as the standard in cities, towns and villages, with some local authorities already introducing these limits in their area.

At its annual national fleet awards this year, the independent road safety charity honoured a number of companies and individuals for their efforts to reduce accidents on the roads.

Firms MiX Telematics, Ocado and Travis Perkins each picked up two awards on the night, with categories of prizes at the event including driver safety, innovation and safe vehicles.

Sponsored by Arval, individual recipients at a gala dinner in Birmingham included Neil Shaw, who was named Road Risk Manager of the Year for his work as the Ocado fleet training and development manager and AlcoSense founder and chief executive Hunter Abbott, who was given the Kevin Storey Award for Outstanding Commitment to Road Safety.

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