2014 National Conference – the best yet?

With the highest ever number of attendees, a ‘sold out’ exhibition and two days of diverse and thought provoking presentations, all the indications are that the 2014 National Road Safety Conference was a spectacular success.

The conference – held in Brighton last week (25-26 Nov) – was hosted by Road Safety GB South East Region and co-sponsored by AA DriveTech, Colas and Sussex Safer Roads Partnership. More than 270 people attended across the two days and 23 organisations were represented at the exhibition which runs alongside the conference.

Highlights from the conference programme included three excellent presentations in the ‘automated driving’ session, by Matthew Avery (Thatcham Research), Tyron Louw (Leeds University) and Richard Cuerden (TRL).

There was also a healthy exchange of views in the cycling panel discussion, with Angie Lee (BIHT), Vicky Spencer (British Cycling) and Graham Smith (urban design consultant) debating whether helmets should be compulsory for children, or possibly all cyclists.

The new fringe programme proved very popular and all fringe sessions were well attended. Highlights of the fringe programme included a taster session for the Road Safety Practitioners’ Foundation Course, delivered by Ian Edwards, and a media training workshop facilitated by the team at Road Safety Analysis.

A charity raffle at the conference dinner raised almost £1,500 for the Martlets Hospice. The money will help fund Christmas at the hospice.

All of the presentations are now available for download from the conference website, and audio clips of some of the sessions will be added over the next few days.

While the formal post event evaluation is not yet complete, anecdotal feedback from attendees has been extremely positive. One described it as a “very professionally run event where I picked up information, ideas and new contacts”.  Another described it as “fantastic! The best I’ve been to. The atmosphere was alive!”.

Planning for the 2015 event, which will be held at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham on 18-19 November 2015, begins at a meeting on Friday 12 December. For more information about the 2015 event contact Sally Bartrum or Nick Rawlings on 01379 650112.

FOOTNOTE:
Click here for a collection of sound bites, bullet points, facts and figures and photos from the 2014 National Road Safety Conference – reported in real time from the conference hall.