Festival day 3 – question of the day

Has the pandemic had an impact on the role of the road safety officer, and led to a more integrated approach to traffic management?

That was one of two key questions raised at the outset of the Festival’s first live presentation – expertly delivered by Richard Owen, CEO at Agilysis – which looked at post-pandemic road safety and what has changed on the roads.

• Click here to watch Richard Owen’s presentation

In answering the ‘question of the day’, Richard said that huge amounts of money have been invested in active travel – encouraging people to walk and cycle more often – and that road safety officers, with their expertise in behaviour change, are well equipped to play a part in this.

With regard to traffic management, he said he is not sure there is widespread use of an integrated approach, though there are some good examples around the country where the emphasis is on safe and active travel.

Below is a summary of some of the key points to emerge from the presentation.

Road use during lockdown

• Lockdown one saw a huge drop in traffic levels and public transport use (bus & train)
• However, car use is now almost back to pre-pandemic levels
• Initially there was a big boom in cycling, but cycling levels are now almost at same levels as before the pandemic

Relationship between car use & cycling

• Lockdown one – car use supressed, cycling significantly increased
• Lockdown two – car use a bit supressed, but no increase in levels of cycling
• Lockdown three – similar results to lockdown two
• With regard to cycling levels, Richard concluded there is ‘something going on, but not a massive change’.

Has road use changed significantly or are we back to pre-pandemic levels?

• There are more home delivery vehicles on the road and this has continued post lockdown. Richard described this as a ‘step change that is here to stay’, and says there is a ‘need to be talking to delivery companies to help them make their safety record at least as good as car drivers’, which the data suggests it is not currently the case.
• There are more e-scooters, but there isn’t much data (apart from rental scooters).

Behaviour – speeding

• There was an increase in drivers exceeding the speed limit during lockdown one
• However, this has universally tailed off since then, and has returned to pre-pandemic levels

Does less traffic mean safer roads – what does the 2020 casualty data tell us?

• There was not as big a dip in road deaths as one would have expected
• Cycling got safer, either as a result of ‘safety in numbers’, or because there were fewer cars on the roads
• E-scooters casualties ‘rocketed’ – but mainly as a result of single vehicle incidents (no other vehicle or road users involved)

Richard concluded his presentation with two rhetorical questions: ‘Are we back to normal?’ and ‘Does 2020 give us a model for the future?’

Coming up later today
At 14.00, Louise Palomino and Tanya Qadir from the Road Safety Trust will deliver a pre-recorded presentation in which they provide information about the Trust’s grant funding process and showcase some of the completed and ongoing projects it has funded.

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The 2021 Festival is being organised by Road Safety GB and sponsored by Jenoptik. For more information contact either Nick Rawlings or Edward Seaman by email or on 01379 650112.

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