NATIONAL ROAD SAFETY CONFERENCE: LIVE UPDATES
14.55: Conference is over!
And with that, the 2015 National Road Safety Conference is over. Thank you all for attending and we’ll see you again next year.
14.30: The final presentation(s)
Representatives from the East Midlands region are now taking to the stage to deliver a regional round-up. The speakers are Lyn Rowe of Leicester City Council, James Fee from Nottingham City Council, Autumn Rose and Steve Stevenson from Nottinghamshire County Council and Keith Millard from Northamptonshire Highways.
Leicester City Council – child car seats
• 90% of children not wearing seatbelts or on correct car seat
• Trained people on IOSH car seat training course
• Took campaign to partnership area
• Incorrect or dangerously fitted seats rose to 81%
• Provide training for retailers
• Worked with health visitors
• Schools & nurseries
• Word is getting round – amount of incorrectly fitted seats is decreasing but we still have a long way to go
Notts City Council – Lifecycle
• Helping long term attitudes of young road users
• Actively teaching children who cannot ride, how to ride (50% success rate)
• 4,000 children have participated (Years 1 & 2)
• 37 primary schools (have of all Nottingham primary schools)
• Investing in the future of Nottingham’s cyclists
• We must try and reduce the risk for our next generation of cyclists
Northamptonshire Highways
Road Safety Heroes
• Computer based, apps
• Involves parents as well
• In trial stage
• Want to roll out nationally in place of JRSO
Car Kraft
• 10,000 youngsters through scheme
• FOC
• Now extended to all drivers
• State of the art facilities & cars
• Classroom session
• Low friction surface
• Leave with a far better understanding of where limits are
• Non drivers – have first driving lesson FOC
14.15: The AA team takes to the stage
David Richards, Head of Marketing, AA DriveTech delievers his presesntation on safe commuting:
The commute – some new insights
7% of fatalities are commute drivers
10% of collisions are commute drivers
Three major commuting times
Early commute 4.30 – 7.00am
7 –9am
4 – 6.30pm (most people crash on evening commute)
Van drivers particularly at risk in morning commute
Factors
• Fatigue
• Distracted
• Close follow vehicles
• Inappropriate speed
Collision factors
• Stopping and starting
• Waiting to move
Early morning car commute dangers
• Bends
• Strategic roads
• Rural roads
7-9 & evening: be careful in urban environment
14.00: Focus moves on to two wheels
Steve Kenward, Chief Executive, Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA) addresses the delegates:
Congestion is set to rise
• More roads, more public transport is not the answer
• People want freedom and personal space
Solution – motorcycling
• But first first something must be done to unlock motorcycling safety
• Where you have P2W @ 10% of vehicle stock the accident rate falls away
• Currently 4% in UK
Motorcyclists make better road users
• Motorcyclists are 23% safer behind the wheel of a car
• More motorcycles means better road users
Realising the Motorcycling Opportunity – framework (six themes)
• Improved road user awareness
• Road safety education within schools for all ages
• Changes to theory test
• Balanced presentation of safety statistics
• Recognition of motorcycles as a legitimate alternative
Motorcycle Industry Accreditation Centre
• Accredits motorcycle trainers
We need Gov’t to recognise motorcycling as a legitimate form of transport
Need to work more closely with cyclists
A piecemeal and fragmented approach to road safety will not work
www.motorcycleframework.co.uk
13.45: Walé Yusuff takes to the stage
Walé Yusuff, General Manager, S.A.M.E. Academy presents on engaging with young people for road safety education:
S.A.M.E Academy – started in 2006
• Safety
• Awareness
• Mentoring
• Education
Workshops, presentations & 4 week programme
"For new, young and the next generation of drivers to be treated the SAME as any other motoring group”
Barriers to effective delivery
• Engaging with the community (schools etc) from the top
• Competition with other co-curriculum subjects
• Conflicting priorities
• Delivering content – who?
Technologies & media
• We need to move with the times
Summary
• Interventions need to be focussed on the future
• Technology plays its part, let’s adapt together
• We’re going where they are!
• We’ll do the adapting when communicating
• Driving gives young people independence
13.35: Final session underway
The final session ‘Topical Topics’ is now underway. The first speaker is Simon Rewell, Road Safety Manager, Insure the Box:
Sold 500,000 black box policies
Insure the box – aim is to help save lives
Young people challenges
• high premiums
• Inexperienced
• No no claims bonus
• Under peer pressure
Solution
• Mileage based product
• Gives feedback
• Reduced premiums
• Rewards safe driving
Telematics
• not a panacea – just one of a number of tools
• Self selection
• Brings driving to the forefront of the driver’s mind
• Influences behaviour
Factors analysed
• Speed
• Time of day
• Taking breaks
• Smooth driving
• Motorways
How do we motivate people to drive more safely?
• Bonus miles (up to 100 per month)
Accident/collision – system detects and communicates with driver, and can alert emergency services
• On average we do this 19 times every month
• Having the box can save lives
Picture: the panellists
Andrew Perry; Dr Sarah Jones; Carly Brookfield; James Cracknell OBE; Jeremy Phillips
12.30 Question Time: Question Six
Question: Most older drivers gradually start to self restrict the difficulty of the conditions they drive in eg motorways, city driving, night driving, while others are persuaded to do so by their family & friends. Should we rely on elderly drivers and their loved ones to self assess and self restrict, or should the DVLA be more proactive in identifying, assessing & possibly restricting these drivers?
Answer(s):
Sarah: With older people we know it’s family discussion that helps decisions. We can make steps on our own but the support of a regulatory framework makes it easier.
Carly: Need to be careful not to bandwaggon. There is a lot we can already be doing eg: GP surgery.
James: A lot of it comes down to self-assessment. Not just elderly, but people on medication. But there does need to be some framework in place.
12.17 Question Time: Question Five
Quesion: What will it take for the government to properly consider reducing the drink drive limit in line with almost all other countries in Europe besides Malta; do you think it would be beneficial if every agency involved in road safety raised a public petition to gain the required signatories to force a parliamentary debate?
Answer(s):
Andrew: I’m trying not to express political views. In consulting, experts don’t believe it is needed to reduce the limit. The majority of us will never get anywhere near the limit.
Jeremy: A reduction in limit will not deal with high end offenders. They will always do something different. We need to address the lower grade with mass enforcement. On the subject of petition, it would be lovely to sign a petition. I like the idea of a parliamentary debate. It would enable a talk about the change in the law for the benefit of all. Need to work out a different method to target harder offenders.
Sarah: If we stop talking about our roads being safest in Europe, it would enable us to challenge problems like drink driving.
Carly: Talking about how safe we are compared to Europe makes us complacent.
James: Are the young are more likely to drink and drive? It’s the people who have a bottle of wine with their meal who we also need to target, not those who binge drink.
[Show of hands reveals audience almost completely in favour of a lower drink drive limit]
12.10 Question Time: Question Four
Question: I believe that future drivers would benefit hugely if ADIs had a better understanding of their clients’ needs. To help achieve this, I think the recommended annual compulsory CPD for ADIs should be increased to around 30 hours. What does the panel think?
Answer(s):
Carly: There is mythology that certain professions aren’t doing certain things. ADIs are doing a lot of CPD and they do understand client centre learning. I’m not anti CPD but it needs to be appropriate. Validity and quality is the key challenge. There needs to be an understanding from every side.
Audience: Needs to be financially rewarded – ADI’s doing CPDs means they have to take time off work.
Carly: CPD can be as simple as reading magazines and textbooks. Our job is to bring the price down.
James: If the price of lessons go up – does it mean that people will take fewer lessons?
12.00: Question Time: Question Three
Question: Why is the government dragging its feet over the introduction of GDL and what, if anything, can we do to push for this change?
Answer(s):
Sarah: I talk a lot about GDL. ‘One person is a krank, two people is a pressure group, three people is a public opinion’ – it’s only by talking that opinions get heard.
Jeremy: Whatever the reasons, as professionals there are things we can do – implement GDL light, done through employment network – anything that can determine how a young person drives a vehicle.
Carly: It’s not had a good PR start. There’s not enough flesh on the bones – needs an effective communications.
James: Young people are overconfident and lack experience, that’s why it does need to be graduated.
[Should parents be targetted to improve safety of children?] Carly: This is an on-going discussion. There is a parental education approach that hasn’t been done very well. Blend of channels that we should be using much more that we do.
Sarah: There are a lot of teenagers who don’t have a parental figure there.
[Show of hands shows almost complete support for GDL]
11.46: Question Time: Question Two
Question: At times on the Road Safety GB newsfeed, and other similar forums, it is akin to open warfare between various road users and their lobbying groups – drivers, cyclists, pedestrians etc. As road safety professionals, what can we do to encourage and help road users to live and operate together more harmoniously?
Answer(s):
James Cracknell: You are talking to people who are passionate – they perceive it as important. Reality is once we are walking/cycling/driving we forget the other road users. Need to get across the message that we are all sharing the road and need to share the responsibility and need to have empathy with eachother. When there are examples of poor cycling, every cyclist gets tarnished with the same brush. There needs to be more understanding and education. Every driver is a pedestrian at some point. We need to build from a shared user point.
Jeremy Phillips: A lot of the problems the cause the heated debates are a lack of empathy. We need to encourage people to remember that road safety is much more than a single issue. We need to remind people that do have experinece that when they are complaining about other road users, they actually have the experience to answer most of these questions. Our job is to put them in touch with what they know.
Carly Brookfield: It’s about communication. It’s a whole road user strategy.
Chair, Nick Rawlings: People are very passionate about these issues. People with the extreme views tend to dominate news feeds. More professionals need to comment.
11.35: Question Time: Question One
Question: What can be done to make speed cameras a more universally acceptable form of speed management?
Answer(s):
Andrew Perry: Never going to be universally accepted. Small number of drivers who think they can drive safely at any speed. For majority, speed limits are there for a reason. Speed cameras are a way of saying ‘we mean it’.
[On visable cameras] Not sure where the rationale is.
Sarah Jones: We need to introduce more 20mph limits – challenging the idea that speeding is acceptable. The use of the camera would become more acceptable is speeding was less so. If you look in the immidiate area, cameras are effective.
James Cracknell: Law abiding nation – people slow down if there is a camera whether it is working or not. Seen by motorists as a stealth tax – increase points instead of penalties? Reputation that they’re not there for the purpose of speed prevention.
Andrew Perry: Got the message across well, when funding was cut and cameras reduced, people were calling for them to come back as they noticed that speeding had gone up. Most of the public reation is quite positive. Only downside is the ‘stealth tax’.
Carly Brookfield: Speed cameras do have an image problem. We need the perception to be changed to education the focus. Make sure communicators also have that focus.
11.30 Question Time begins
The Question Time session is about to get underway, featuring five panellists: Andrew Perry, Dr Sarah Jones, James Cracknell OBE, Carly Brookfield and Jeremy Phillps. Click here to read more about the panellists.
10.32: Cycling innovation explored
Keith Morgan, Principal Transport Planner, Cycling and Roadspace Transformation, Nottingham City Council takes to the stage:
Cycling in Nottingham
• 3-4% of trips to work by bike
Cycling network built on destinations
• Creating a balance between movement & place
• Cycling can take you to exactly where you want to go
Types of cycle path
• Superhighway
• Kerb segregation between peds & cyclists (6m)
• Wide shared area (under 6m)
Superhighway
• 3m wide two way track Ideally would provide one way track on either side of road – restraints on space
• Giving priority to cyclists
• Green paint on roads (council colour) to highlight junctions
Shared path
• Give priority to cyclists with give way markings for cars (trailing at moment)
• Cyclists like this
Shared path
• Still give priority to cyclists but makes them look
Superhighway toucan
• Want single stage where possible
• Want cyclists to stop but they will try and find a way not to do so
• Low level cycle lights being installed on cycle superhighways
• Seeking blanket permission to install them across the city
Parallel crossing (zebra crossing for cyclists)
• Already is use in London & Norwich
• Nottingham will be using them
10.11: Gearing up for the cycling session
Simon Bradbury, Senior Strategy and Planning Manager – Road Safety, TfL, talks about ‘Safe Streets for Cyclists in the Capital’:
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Cycle safety in London
• In the spotlight of political & media scrutiny
Safe streets for London strategy plan
• Launched June 2013
• Plan to reduce KSIs by 40% by 2020
Encouraging progress
• 7% reduction in 2014 – achieved 2020 target 6 yrs early – stretched target to 50% KSI reduction
• Greatest reduction in car occupant KSIs
• Not so significant reductions among vulnerable road users
• Cyclist KSIs stayed roughly the same
• But cycling in London is getting safer (levels of cycling increasing 196% since 2000)
2014 – 7% fall on cyclists deaths and 12% fall in KSIs
Cycle safety action plan launched in Nov 2014
• Ensure growth in cycling is accompanied by reduction in casualties
• Increase the perception that cycling is safe
• Ensure London remains a world leader in cycling safety
Risk varies with age for cyclists – young cyclists experience higher levels of risk
Cyclists have the second highest risk of injury (next to motorcyclists)
20-29 & 30-39 have lower levels of risk
Under 20s sustain high numbers of KSIs
Taxi & private hire are involved in 4 times more cyclist KSIs than might be expected
Safe vehicles: buses
• Trialling ped & cyclist detection technology
• Trialling ISA on 47 bus routes (bus only travelling within speed limit)
Safe vehicles: freight
• 2008-2013 55% of cycliste fatalities involved HGV
• FORS scheme provides clear standards for vehicles & drivers
• CLoCS prompts demand for higher vision concept vehicles 16 demo trucks being trialled
Safe roads: cycle infrastructure
• £900m investment
• Cycle superhighways
• Quietways
• Mini Hollands (havens for cyclists in outer London)
Speed
• 20mph limits being introduced
• Measures to reduce speeds includes updating speed cameras to digital
Safe people
• Safer urban driving course
• Cyclists motorists safety tips campaign
• Cycle training
• Exchanging Places (cyclists & HGV drivers)
Enforcement
• MPS cycle safety team
• Operation Safeway to be extended to 300 junctions
• Freight enforcement partnership launched in Oct 2015
Future activity
• Consult on what comes next for safer lorries scheme
• Roll out 8 more 20mph schemes
• Continue cameras update
• Better use of data to better inform future activity
09.50: Why do older drivers give up?
Neil Greig, Director of Research and Policy, IAM, examines the answer to that question in the final presentation of the session:
Older drivers – who do they give up?
Older drivers use cars to keep mobile – 70 yr old drivers use their cars more than teenagers and those aged 20yrs
Hard to get opinions from those who’ve stopped driving is difficult but
• 60% said they’d given up at right time
• 40% too early
Why?
• Medical reasons
• Cost (too expensive to run car)
• Lack of confidence
• Stopped enjoying driving
Older drivers don’t feel under pressure to give up driving – it’s a personal decision
Older drivers who are still driving
• See it as very important (women more than men)
• Men more likely to think they are good drivers
• Vast majority feel confident driving
When and why will you give up?
• Health problem
• Likely to give up if advised by a professional (GPs/opticians are influential)
• They expect to continue driving for quite some time
Policy options
• Quite a bit of support for retesting
• Older drivers OK with eyesight testing
• If there was an online DIY test older drivers would take it
IAM mature driver assessment
• 1 hr drive costs £49
• Own car/convenient time
• Rated competent etc
• Vast majority rated competent or excellent
• But this is a self selecting group (mainly males & self-motivated to take a test)
Older drivers task force
• Launched in Dec 2014
• Three working groups (Evidence base, vehicle & road technology, support & self help)
• Due to report by 2016 (may be quite controversial)
09.45: Fringe session taking place.
The Fringe session is also currently taking place, with speakers including Ian Edwards (left) and Linda Pratt (right).
The Fringe session runs throughout day two
09.32: Martin Ellis explains drug driving law
Martin Ellis, Policy Lead on Drug Driving, Department for Transport, examines the success of the new drug driving laws:
Key challenges
• Political desire to take ‘tough’ approach
• Inclusion of illegal & medical drugs
• Making the law enforceable
Great level of technical complexity
• Drug measurement complex
• CPS evidence ‘beyond reasonable doubt’
• Diverse group of stakeholders
Going ‘pretty well’
• Lots of positive publicity
• Four fold increase in enforcement
• 70% of drug drivers commit other offences
• If you cut down on drug driving you will meet lots of police objectives
• 95% of people pleading guilty on first appearance in court (compared with 52% in 2012)
Oct 2015 – DfT £750k funding to build police capacity
Hardly any women offenders typical offender 26yr old male
Next steps
• THINK! Campaign Feb/Mar 2016
• Considering oral fluid test and evidential sampel at roadside
09.20: Am I fit to drive?
That is the question now being answered by Dr Nicola Christie, Director of the UCL Transport Institute:
Ageing society – how do we manage safe mobility & impairment caused by illness or injury?
• Drivers tend to self regulate
• Role of GP
No standard testing protocol
Gaps
• No clinically viable tests to assess fitness to drive
• Need to support clinicians to make decisions about ability to drive
• Few specialist mobility centres
• Need better evidence
How can we fill gaps?
• Support GPs
• More specialist assessment facilities (only 17 in country)
What role could RSOs play?
• Safe mobility advisors
Could we develop a clinically viable desk based assessment?
Autonomous cars may have a role to play for people with cognitive impairment
09.05: Day two begins with ‘Fit to Drive’
Dr Carol Hawley, (below) Warwick Medical School & Tanya Fosdick, Road Safety Analysis get the ‘Fit to Drive’ session underway. They will examine visual impairment:
Looked at more than 1m injury collisions with at least 1 contributory factor (CF)
Analysed drivers by age (over & under 60yrs)
88% of drivers receiving a CF were aged under 60yrs
No differences in CF rates among drivers aged over & under 60yrs
72% of those with defective eyesight CF were over 60yrs
Why are older drivers likely to be involved in vision related collisions?
• Higher incidence of age-related impairment
• Natural age related optical changes
• Increased susceptability to glare
The amount of light reaching the photoreceptors reduces with age – only 33% at 60 compared with aged 20yrs
Dazzling sun more of a factor than dazzling headlights
Glare is a factor for older drivers, as is peripharal vision
Dazzling headlights more likely in winter months
What to do?
• Encourage frequent eye tests for drivers aged 60+
• Campaigns featuring the importance of good vision/good lenses
• Should there be an eye test at aged 70yrs? (Many countries in Europe have an eye test at aged 70yrs)
17.00: Day one over
And with that, day one of the National Road Safety Conference is over. We’ll see you tomorrow when we do it all again.
16.48 The Lynda Chalker Award
This year there are two recipients of the Lynda Chalker Award.
The first Award is presented to Ian Edwards for services to RSGB and road safety in general and the second to Graham Compton, a former roads policing officer who has excelled at partnership working.
Left: Ian Edwards, Right: Graham Compton
16.30: Speakers back for delegates questions
As with the first session, the speakers are back on stage to answer questions from the delegates.
16.15: Matt Davey, Wokingham Borough Council, final session speaker
Matt Davey, Head of Highways & Transport at Wokingham Borough Council, representing Safer Roads Berkshire, is the final speaker for this session:
Berkshire – mix of six unitary authorities with varied political objectives
Public think road safety is important but are not satisfied with services provided
People don’t want to see road safety services cut
People want good road safety but also want value for money
2011 Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership was wound up
Safer Roads set up as a not-for-profit organisation – up and running now for four years
While Berkshire does not exist any more Safer Roads still works across the area.
We have expertise on tap beyond individual authorities
We are not looking to outsource the service
• Seen reduction in casualties
• Massive reduction in cost of delivering service (-75%)
15.56: Warwickshire County Council take to the stage
Philippa Young, Group Manager for Traffic and Road Safety & Jo Edwards, Principal Road Safety Engineer, Warwickshire County Council:
Revenue funding for road safety teams was to be lost
For the first time was genuinely concerned about the task ahead
We needed a different approach – more business focused – but what did that really mean?
Service review
• Developed a clear business plan
• Used a Boston matrix
• Develop a service that could operate from zero budget
Complete redesign of primary school packs
• Business sponsorship
• Occupational road risk support
• New cycle training programme
Warwickshire Road Safety Club
• Ensure every child learns fundamental road safety skills
• Links with Nat Curriculum
• Free to priority schools with other schools paying small price
Business sponsorship
• Enjoyed the challenge
• Engaged with smaller businesses, rather than multi nationals
• Case study – O’Briens Contractors sponsored road safety delivery in local schools
NDORS courses
• Surplus generated to be spilt with some invested in road safety
Occupational road risk
• See this as an area of revenue growth
Cycling
• Re-asessed adult cycle training provision
• Developed Love2Bike to motivate and train employees to cycle to work
• Approached by Jaguar Land Rover to deliver course
• Early days – initiatives generating interest & income
• Look to generate modest surplus in next four years
Lessons learnt
• Managing culture change
• Overcome internal barriers
• Match the right business with the right approach
• Make every contact count
• Understand the political impact of cultural change
• Use social media
Summary
• Take a fresh look at the skills in your team
• Expect resistance
• Businesses want a tangible project to support
• Celebrate event the smallest of successes
We need to develop an offer that is too good for the politicians to refuse.
15.42: KierWSP and its work for Northamptonshire County Council
John Spencer, team leader of road safety and sustainable travel services delivered by KierWSP, for Northamptonshire County Council:
Northants CC
• Moving from 4,000 staff to 150
• Moving from direct delivery to ‘next generation model’ of outsourcing all services
Becoming Northants Highways
• All a bit of a whirlwind 2.5 years ago
• Whole team ‘tuped’ to KierWSP
• Total head count now circa 600
Challenges for integration
• Moving to shared IT systems
• Understanding commercial culture of new organisation
• Ensuring service continuity to public
New opportunities
• No reduction in front line services
• One brand (Northants Highways)
• Simplified procurement procedures
• Huge amount of resiliance/support
• Sharing expertise
Benefits
Simplified line management
Can set budgets in line with priorities
Efficiency savings for council
Big increase in customer satisfaction
Overall, everything has worked out well.
Many of you may face a similar situation in the future – hope this provides some reassurance.
15.26: City of York Council shares its experience
Andrew Bradley, Sustainable Transport Manager & Trish Hirst, Road Safety Officer, City of York Council:
How do we work? Maslow hierarchy of needs
• Care of yourself and looking after yourself & your team
• Focus on your core work (80% of total time)
• Flexibility (20% of time) – work on toolkit, in data led way
• Partnership – we could not do data led work without working in partnership
What we used to do and what we do now
• Used to do poster campaigns to make people think again – very expensive and ineffective beyond short term
• In contrast, rural roads safety app – data led, partnership delivered, achieved recognition
• Used to do DES 2010 World Cup campaign – scattergun approach
• Now iPledge York – putting power back into hands of people, asks people to become community champions
• Be bright, be seen – in the past given out 15k reflectors – wasn’t targeted
• Now – done in partnership, targeted on cyclists with no lights/hi-vis etc. Enforcement and tool for education
Summary
• Don’t duplicate
• Explore and work on partnerships
• Explore social media, including market profiling
•In hindsight, the Tufyt Club did work but unless you have the time and resources to deliver over sustained period of time this method of working is gone.
15.05: Session two, ‘A Local Focus’, starts with Jeremy Phillips
Jeremy Phillips, road safety manager, Devon County Council, talks through his experience:
Pre-spending review
• Healthy revenue budget & capital budget
After the cuts
• Different & smaller
Funding reviews came in waves
• Revenue budget down by more than 60%
• Capital budget down 100%
Options for change
• Cut your cloth (do less, do less well and cover less ground thatn you used to)
• Or – square up to the threat of losing services & rethink delivery options
The corporate challenge
• The inherent value of everything was being challenged
SCPs
• Initial request – end the service
• Budget reduced form £350k to £100k
• Going to try and commercialise the SCP service
• Licence a third party service provider
Highways support
• 2.6 RSOs 8k of highways
• Redirected investment into ‘road safety champions’ among engineers & technicians
Loss of research
• Salary grab – officer left
• All research work now carried out by local universities for free – make projects look interesting to supervisors & students
Management outcomes
• Management is now by contract or persuasion/motivation etc
• But I’m now vulnerable to external forces
Key principles
• Enable more and do less
• Don’t shy away from redirecting front line services into the back office
• Diminish rather than lose – keep going at some level
• Expand role and relevance of team (corporate protection?)
• It is now about contract management
Final fall-back position
• Entirely back office, enabling other people to do our work
14.23: Delegates ask questions
Q: Safer Roads Humber – covert enforcement – when will police stop apologising for it?
Answer: (TIm Madgwick) It is a balance, there is a debate of longevity of enforcement. It’s not just technology. Tactics to achieve outcome.
Q: PCC for Bedfordshire talked about not using NPCC guidance on enforcement thresholds – what does the NPCC think?
Answer: (Tim Madgwick) No plan for NPCC to debate change or removal of thresholds.
And with that, session one is concluded.
14.07: Stuart Lovatt, Highways England
Highways England’s Stuart Lovatt steps up to present to the delegates alone after Richard Leonard is forced to pull-out:
HE target – 40% reduction in KSI casualties by 2020
Longer term vision – no one should be harmed on our network
Big challenge – no of casualties on HE network increased in 2013
HE has gone from being engineering based to safety as top priority (also top priority for our customers)
Move from reactive ‘fixing’ organisation to one the moves to incident prevention
Need to analyse data to understand where issues are
Drilling down into specific routes & networks
Look at ‘incidents’ rather than KSIs
Launch incident casualty reduction plans for each of our seven regions
What can we do to encourage our customers to drive more safely?
Modern infrastructure – Smart motorways – use technology to engage with drivers
By 2020, 90% of our customers must be travelling on a 3 star road
Developing a range of initiatives/campaigns to tackle underlying characteristics behind collisions
13.52: Joining up he dots – a CFOA perspective
Chief Fire Officer Nigel Hutchinson, CFOA Strategic Lead for Road Safety now addresses the delegates:
Joining up the dots – a CFOA perspective
• CFOA Road Safety Group not experts in road safety
• Essential going forward we link up and join the dots.
People think FRS is great
We need to position ourselves as a trusted and credible road safety partner instead of enthusiastic amateurs
More needs to be done in terms of CFOA links with FRS service – road safety delivery is patchy locally
QA is not universally applied by FRS with regard to road safety – real opportunity for CFOA & RSGB Academy
Good links between stakeholders at national level (CFOA, DfT, RSGB, NPCC etc)
The difficulty is the link between CFOA & FRS with regard to road safety
Network of senior FRS road safety leads is being established.
Will come together to inform priorities
CFOS’s four draft objectives
• Understand FRS road safety needs and provide direct support
• Engage with key road safety stakeholders
• Introduce a QA framework for the delivery of road safety
• Develop a sustainable model for CFOA road safety group
Picture: The #RSGB2015 audience
13.36 Tim Madgwick, ‘Policing the Roads in Partnership’
DCC Tim Madgwick, NPCC Lead for Motorcycling, highlights the work his organisation is doing.
More onus today on partnership working (because of budgetary position)
Must think about public confidence issue – why do people take the actions they take with regard to speed?
How can we work with reduced resources?
Education, enforcement & engineering
• NDORS is effective
• Safety cameras
• Traffic management
Create new partnerships with healthcare and private sector
Improved use of technology
• ANPR is critical for intelligence led policing
Public interaction – we have to get the balance right
Police officers use social media incredibly well with limited controls
More social media about inapprorpiate cycling in York than anything else
Cameras – cash cow or safety tool?
Legitimate debate about how we use the funds
The money should be used for road safety resources
Drink drive limits
Why are we the only conuntry in Europe other that Malta with a higher drink drive limit?
Alcolocks – opportunities for intervention and prevention
Mandatory eduction in schools – we teach them to swim, but every child becomes a road user
Exchange of information between GPs and police
13.25 Tim Lennon highlights THINK! campaigns
Tim Lennon is next on the stage, introducing THINK!’s campaign plans for 2015/16 and 2016/17.
Four main THINK! advertising campaigns planned for 15/16 & 16/17
• Country Roads
• Drink driving
• Drug driving
• Cycling
Low spend campaigns
• Motorcycling
• Child & Teens
• Young drivers
Upcoming Xmas Drink drive campaign
• 93% of people think drink driving is extremely unacceptable
• But only 56% of people think driving after 2 pints is extremely unacceptable
• We want to close the gap
Campaign will target 17-34 male ostriches
• Limit themselves to 2 drinks
• I’ve done it loads of time
• When I think of DD I think of someone who’s drunk 10 pints
Campaign message
• A second drink could double your chances of being involved in a fatal collision
• Largest DD campaign for some while
• Partnership activities with Johnnie Walker & Coca Cola
How will we work?
• Evidence based aproach incluidng behavioural change models
• Better evaluate impact of campaigns (impact on actual behaviour
• We want to work in partnership
Evaluating outcomes
2014 Country Roads campaign
Study to measure actual behaviour – 30 drivers – measured driving behaviours pre and post campaign
Campaign was effective – drivers started braking earlier and entering speeds slower and overall fall in average speeds on country roads. (average entry speeds down 2mph and average speeds down 1mph)
We are repeating this exercise this year.
How can we support you?
• Published marketing plan
• Campaign toolkits
• Free resources
How can you help us?
• Help develop campaigns
• Share our messages locally
• Feedback on how you use resources
13.15 Honor Byford delivers first live presentation
Honor Byford, chair, Road Safety GB begins the first live talk of the Conference
Andrew Jones is a listener – and he recognises the role education, training & publicity can play in reducing casualties.
How can we work effectively with shrinking financial resources?
• Must not fall out with our partners.
• We need to be enabling
What are our strengths?
• Expertise, depth of knowledge
• Partnership culture
• Support from DfT
• Continuity – all of you here today
• Good at adapting to new ideas and running with them (while looking out for unintended consequences
We need new partnerships
• ADIs – cost effective and invaluable
• Third sector & charities – our relations with bigger charities are sporadic
Research & evidence
• New RSGB Director of research – we are going to make sure the evidence is there
We have a new business plan
We will support RSOs whatever the uncertainties may be.
13.05 Andrew Jones MP opens the conference via video
Session one of the conference is opened by a video presentation from
Andrew Jones.
The minister said: "Thanks for the fantastic job you do – you are part of the reason why Britain remains a world leader in road safety – but we cannot afford to be complacent."
The points he made included:
Safety of young drivers very important – but difficult to strike right balance, and we need better knowledge about what works.
Motorcyclists – looking at imporving take up of post test training. Looking at CBT to ensure safety is embedded from the start.
Drink driving – tough action against small number who selfishly ignore the limit.
Government not considering reinstating targets – however local authorities can set own targets
Driverless cars – has the scope to reduce collisions caused by driver error. We want Britain to lead in the development of autonomous vehicles
Minister concluded by asking road safety officers: "What other changes can we make?"
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