MD of Dawes Highway Safety awarded MBE in King’s Birthday honours

The founder and managing director of Dawes Highway Safety, James Bowen-Dawes, has been awarded an MBE in the King’s birthday honours list 2025.

Bowen-Dawes, who receives the honour for services to road safety on Saturday, founded Dawes Highway Safety after serving as a sergeant with the London Metropolitan Police’s Roads Policing Unit, where he regularly witnessed the aftermath of serious and fatal collisions between heavy goods vehicles and vulnerable road users.

In this front-line role, Bowen-Dawes recognised the dangers posed to people who became entangled in the open side rails of a moving large vehicle and how the mechanics of such an event would frequently lead to unnecessary serious or fatal injuries.

After leaving the police he founded Dawes Highway Safety to research and develop a range of safety products to reduce this risk.

That included the PeoplePanel, which became the UK’s first commercially manufactured protective side barrier safety system.

It has helped encourage the universal adoption of enhanced lateral side protection for large vehicles.

He said: “I rode a bicycle in London on my daily commute for many years… only to patrol the very same roads on a police motorbike responding to serious incidents involving fellow cyclists and pedestrians.

“I always felt incredibly vulnerable around large vehicles and couldn’t understand why areas in front of the rear wheels were left open for a person to fall into during a collision.

“I’m doing everything I can to change that. To receive this level of recognition for my work is incredible and I look forward to a day where open bar side rails officially become a thing of the past.”

Bowen-Dawes is also head of corporate social responsibility for the British Concrete Transport Association and a familiar face at many fleet safety events.