“When research was published suggesting that road safety education was not effective in reducing casualties, some people in road safety buried their head in the sand.”
That’s according to Matt Staton, Road Safety GB’s director of research, who is the guest in the latest edition of RSGB Talk, published on 9 November as part of the 2021 Festival of Road Safety.
In the podcast (approx. 7 mins in), Matt suggests that Road Safety GB needs to do more work to identify exactly what support the profession will need in the coming decade, which is going to bring huge challenges and great opportunities.
In answering a question from host Nick Rawlings about whether ETP is undervalued in the UK, he said that when research was published suggesting that road safety education was not effective in reducing casualties, ‘some people in road safety buried their head in the sand’ – then adding ‘there are large areas where improvement is needed in terms of proving the effectiveness of road safety ETP’.
“As a profession we haven’t sufficiently valued ourselves and our expertise,” he said, before adding, “we need to have the confidence to build our work based on a sound evidence base.”
Matt also said, ‘we need to remove the expectation that RSOs can do everything’, suggesting that Road Safety GB could provide a central pool of resources and interventions developed on a sound evidence base, that are piloted etc for RSOs to use locally.
Speaking about the Data Analysts Network, Matt explains it was set up to connect analysts with other analysts, and now there is a national network of champions who connect with analysts in their region.
Talking about the annual analysts’ conference, Joining The Dots, he said the 2022 edition will be held on 1 March at the RAC Clubhouse in Pall Mall, London.
The plan is to deliver a hybrid event which will run live and be broadcast simultaneously for delegates who are unable or unwilling to attend in person.
This will deliver the networking benefits of a live in-person event, combined with the broader audience achievable online. Matt said he is ‘very hopeful we can deliver this successfully’.
Podcast forms part of triple-header
Today marks the first triple-header of the 2021 Festival, with two further presentations also being published.
The first, a keynote delivered by David Crundall, professor of psychology at Nottingham Trent University, looks at the use of virtual reality (VR) in the future of hazard perception testing and training.
Referencing a project to evaluate the efficacy of VR hazard training and testing, David answers whether the hype around VR justified.
Meanwhile, Rod King MBE, founder and campaign director, 20’s Plenty for Us, outlines ‘How the national 30mph limit is no longer fit-for-purpose’.
Weeks 2, 3 and 4
Click here to view the full programme for Festival week 2.
The programmes for weeks 3 and 4 can also be found on the link above – by clicking on the links on the right-hand side. Weeks 3 and 4 sessions are subject to final confirmation in terms of dates and timings.
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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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