More funding for engineering ‘key to cutting casualties’

The best way to further reduce road casualties would be to increase funding for safety engineering, according to new research by TRL (Surveyor 21/05/09).

The steering group for the new 10-year road safety strategy for England commissioned TRL to estimate the impact of implementing new measures to reduce KSIs by a further 33% by 2020.

TRL assessed measures that have been included in the draft strategy, such as implementing 20mph zones more widely, and others, such as mass action programmes to reduce motorcyclist casualties.

The report concludes that increasing investment in road safety engineering has the best financial return of any measure. But despite the TRL findings, the DfT has made no commitment to increasing investment in engineering. The DfT consultation on the draft strategy runs until July.