Successfully piloted in 2018, ‘Speed dating’ will comprise a series of very brief presentations from road safety practitioners outlining schemes/interventions they have developed for use in their local area.
Summary:
- 12 speakers – five minutes each
- Click here to see the agenda
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Inspector Andy Trotter, Lancashire Constabulary
For the last seven years Andy has had responsibility for overseeing the investigation of all fatal, life threatening and life changing road traffic collisions in Lancashire.
He also has responsibility for partnership work around the road safety agenda, working with local authorities, other emergency services and voluntary organisations.
Presentation: Education on a shoestring
Difficult to get initiatives off the ground because of funding & engage with schools
We look for simple/low cost initiatives which take little time from the curriculum
Coming up with innovative ways – using pieces of drainpipe to measure the height of children.
- Can then relay messages about child car seats and seat belts
As soon as they see something different, kids want to get involved.
Everyone who checks their height gets a sticker ‘The law says I must always wear a seat belt’
Been adopted across the county.
Zena Oliver, Road Safety Manager, Via East Midlands
Zena has over 15 years’ experience in road safety, firstly for Nottinghamshire County Council and now Via East Midlands. She has a broad knowledge of all aspects, specialising in RSE development and campaigns.
Presentation: Ditch the Distraction #Ditchit
Pedestrian Casualties in Nottinghamshire: 19.4% are aged between 11-20 years.
Factors include poor decision making/lack of experience
Award winning campaign from 2012:
- Pavement Art Outside a School Entrance
- Carried the campaign message ‘ditch the distraction’
- However used vinyl – expensive
Relaunched in recent times – using a stencil and spray paint (much cheaper)
Promoted on social media
Effective at engaging with young pedestrians
Claire Heaton, Senior Road Safety Officer, BCP Council
Claire Heaton has worked in the road safety education team for 17 years, originally managing the School Crossing Patrol Service and Cycle Training Scheme before being promoted to line manage both services including the STEPs Training Scheme, originally known as Kerbcraft.
Presentation: LifeDrive
Why we developed a course for young drivers?
- 17-25 yrs – four times higher risk of collision than any other group
- Less driving experience
- Perception of risk – optimistic bias
- Peer pressure – exaggerates risk-taking behaviour even more
- Lack of sleep – often equivalent to drink driving
- Vehicle choice – lack of safety features
- Brain development – control functions not developed – easily distracted
Role of Neurobiological Development:
- Frontal lobe – regulates impulsivity, emotional arousal, judgement, distraction. Develops by around 25yrs old
- Temporal lobe – interested in all stimuli and distractions, stimulates risk-taking behaviour – speed, sex and drugs. Develops before 25 yrs old.
How we developed LifeDrive:
- Identified risk factors – 17-25 yrs – vulnerable group
- Identified Graduated Driver Learning as a good model
- Applied / Awarded Local Sustainable Transport Fund grant
- Discussed the idea / name with DRS Partners
- Set out and developed LifeDrive for 17-25 yrs who passed within 4 years
Course content:
- Theory Session
- Getting to know
- Causes of collisions
- Methods to reduce risk
- Practical Session
- 1.5 hour 1:1 session with an ADI – focussing on bad habits, anything that is causing the young driver concern and building confidence
- Practice observational skills
- 6-12 Month Review (Optional)
Delivery locations 2014-2019
- SafeWise Bournemouth
- SafeWise Weymouth
Delivery in Schools Yr. 12 and 13
- Poole High School
- Lytchett School
Evaluation results:
Two Year Evaluation – Public Health Dorset
- Findings: 170 registered / 125 – Theory Session / 109 Drive-out / 32 – Review Drive-out / 61% F / 39% M / Av age 21 yrs
- Course Satisfaction: Most useful topics – Reaction & Stopping times / Cause of collisions / Distractions
- Cost analysis: Original cost £100 per participant – reality £165 inc advertising costs
- Considerations: Multiple alterations made over the first 2 years of Pilot project – now works as a project
Debbie Huckle, Vice Chair, 2Wheels London and Road Safety Officer, London Borough of Brent
Debbie Huckle is the team leader for safety and travel planning at the London Borough of Brent and has 18 years’ experience of working in road safety.
Debbie has a keen interest in motorcycle safety, especially as the renowned Ace Café is located in Brent, and given her role as vice chair of the 2Wheels London Stakeholder Group.
Presentation: Angry Al – #ridebetter campaign
- A social media video campaign – launched in August 2019
- The films were developed in consultation with riders
- The campaign content covers areas that contribute towards collisions such as: speed & observations, overtaking, junctions and road position
- Others concentrated on raising awareness of maintenance, wearing the correct gear, fatigue and the rider’s attitude and behaviour when riding
The social media clips were designed to resonate with young riders and help to influence their decisions and reduce road danger, collisions and casualties.
Published on a weekly basis throughout August, September & October
Views by platform (as of 28 Oct):
- Facebook: 109,330
- Instagram: 17,821
- Twitter: 7,300
- YouTube: 1,671
- Total: 136,122
Next steps: Moody Mel
Sandra Agbabiaka, Principal Road Safety Officer, Hackney Council
Sandra started her road safety career in Lewisham in 2003, before moving to Hackney in 2006. In the 10 years since then she has led on a wide range of road safety projects.
Presentation: Hackney School Streets Toolkit
School Streets – closing roads outside of schools to motorised traffic at peak times.
Project aims:
- Reduce volume of traffic using roads past school gates, both school-run and through traffic;
- Improve air quality in and around school gates;
- Increase number of pupils walking and cycling to school; and
- Reduce the number of pupils arriving at the school gate by car
What’s in the toolkit?
The guide uses the borough’s experience in implementing School Streets to take other local authorities step-by-step through the process.
- Set up (sourcing funding etc)
- Assessing conditions (collect & analyse data)
- Developing schemes (consultation & engagement)
- Implementing schemes (school launch)
- Evaluating schemes (share any lessons learned)
- Keep it going (make the scheme permanent)
Alana Barlow, Senior Road Safety Officer, Walsall Council
Alana Barlow is the senior road safety officer at Walsall Council and has over 18 years’ experience in road safety. Alana manages the team which delivers road safety interventions across a range or road users and age groups, including the A*STARS programme.
Presentation: A*STARS – working in partnership with public health
What is A*Stars?
Active Sustainable Travel And Road Safety
- An award winning programme!
- A series of walking , cycling, scooting and road safety initiatives.
- Offers training, expertise and support to schools to:-
- promotes healthier and safer lifestyles for children and families
- address behavioural and environmental factors discourage people from active travel
- raise road safety awareness and reduce the perceived hazards of active travel
- reduce the number of preventable accidents.
Partnership approach:
- A*STARS is commissioned by Walsall Council Public Health
- Integrated approach combines the statutory duties associated with 3 Council departments:
- Highways authority
- Public health
- Children’s services
- to improve children and families health and wellbeing and deliver road safety and public health outcomes
Programme objectives:
- Road safety education and training – reduction in road traffic casualties
- Increased physical activity – supports healthy weight management
- Less congestion/reduced carbon – reduction in asthma and other respiratory illnesses
How the programme is delivered:
- Starts with whole school active travel survey
- Core elements: wheeling, walking and road safety
- Awards based on the core elements + sheriff activities
Walking:
- Park and Stride
- 5 and 10 minute walk zones
- Let’s walk together events
- Walking Bus
- Any other Walking Activity
Wheeling:
- KS1 Cycling in the Curriculum
- KS1 Scoot-athon
- KS2 Bikeability Ride
- KS2 Bikeability Parents
- KS2 Bikeability on Show
- Any other wheeling activity
Road safety education:
- Safety in the car (seat belts)
- Safety in the car (car seats)
- KS2 Egg Heads
- Speed awareness
- Pedestrian (TOGO NOGO)
- Be Bright, Be Seen
- Any other road safety activity
A*STARS Sheriff activities:
- Assemblies
- Walking challenges
- Noticeboards
- Competitions
- Training and recruiting
Reduction in road traffic:
- Road traffic collisions are a major cause of deaths in children, and comprise higher proportions of accidental deaths as children get older.
- Public health and road safety are linked by factors related to the roads such as the speed and volume of traffic, which can cause injuries and prevent opportunities for healthy activity outside of the home.
- Reduced road traffic also contributes to achieving air quality objectives.
Road safety:
- Reduction in number of children (aged 6-10 years) killed or seriously injured in RTAs in Walsall
Achievements:
- 84% Primary Schools participation
- 2% lower car use compared to the National average of 44%
- Installation of new cycle shelters has resulted in increased active travel
- 1122 pupils received Bikeability Fix module
- 1,700 year 3 children received practical pedestrian training to ensure “active travel is safe travel”.
Carl Milton, Regional Logistics and Supply Chain Manager, CEMEX UK
As a transport professional responsible for managing a large fleet and national road safety projects, Carl Milton has worked with manufacturers, industry bodies, pressure groups and drivers to reduce road risk for vulnerable road users.
Presentation: Don’t Chance It – partnership campaign targeting older pedestrians
Why run a pedestrian road safety campaign?
- Three CEMEX UK fatalities involved elderly pedestrians walking in front of the vehicle as it started to move off – all our drivers were found non culpable
- Pedestrians are a key group of vulnerable road users (In London 2016 – 61 Pedestrians, 8 cyclists killed)
- Older people tend to miss out on online campaigns etc
Truck livery messaging:
- Don’t chance it… Look out before you step out
Leaflets and films:
- Pedestrian video – involving elderly man, mum with buggy and teenager, highlighting different aspects of staying safe as a pedestrian
- Driver Training video – including driver’s testimonial, technology and advice about being aware of pedestrians
Campaign update:
- Collaboration: Met Police, TfL, road safety campaign groups/Age UK
- Truck promotion: decals for side of vehicles developed, new caution boards designed
- Campaign materials: logo produced, photos taken, leaflets produced
- Campaign film: films produced aimed at truck drivers and pedestrians (available online)
- Campaign roll out: rolled out at school visits and Exchanging Places, Lewisham Council – part of the Vision Zero Action Plan, targeting local community groups
Education + collaboration + community + raising awareness + vehicle specification = improving road safety.
Kate Castle, Road Safety Officer, Warwickshire County Council
Kate Castle trained as a teacher and has many years’ experience of working with children across the primary spectrum.
Although fairly new to the field of road safety, her strengths and skills along with her passion, drive and commitment to teaching and learning has helped transform the way road safety education is delivered across primary schools in Warwickshire.
Presentation: Kagan Cooperative Learning Techniques
Why cooperative learning?
Road safety education needs to:
- Deliver key messages effectively
- Engage every child
- Be memorable
What is cooperative learning?
- Positive Interdependence
- Individual accountability
- Equal participation
- Simultaneous interaction
The benefits:
- Actively involves all children
- Personalises learning
- Facilitates a deeper learning
- Motivates children
- Develops positive attitudes towards learning
Making cooperative learning work for you!
- Start with simple repeatable structures.
- Introduce more complexity.
- Be flexible.
- Use feedback and reflect.
- Have fun and enjoy the experience!
Robin Wythe, Road Safety Officer, Telford & Wrekin Council
Robin Wythe has been a road safety officer working for Telford & Wrekin Council for the past six and a half years.
Robin delivers interventions to all ages, small and large groups, and prefers interactive workshops and close engagement.
Presentation: Charging schools (and others) for road safety interventions
What’s the problem?
- The Road Safety Team was required to generate income and was given a target to aim for
- In hard times we need to generate income or our service might be diminished.
What’s the solution?
- Identify the target market
- Identify the interventions that could be used
- Develop a costing model to charge for the interventions
- Measure the effectiveness of the interventions
- Improve process and interventions based on above
What could go wrong?
- Expectation for generation for all interventions?
- What happens when school budgets are squeezed?
- What about ethical considerations?
- Can you think of any more?
What could go right?
- The quality of the interventions is raised
- Feedback to clients using measurement
- Comms can be measured to see what works best
- Costs are driven down
- Officers gain greater skills in development
- Interventions can be more easily compared
- An offering of standard and bespoke interventions
Andy Stroulger, Road Traffic Casualty Reduction Manager, Essex County Fire & Rescue Service
Andy Stroulger has worked for Essex County Fire & Rescue Service since April 2010 and is the Service’s road traffic casualty reduction manager, responsible for all road safety products, activities and interventions.
Presentation: ‘Street Spirit’ Campaign – Engaging with Young Riders
Campaign background:
- P2Ws highest road user risk group in Essex
- 37% P2W KSIs involve young riders aged 16-25 (2013 – 2018)
- Machines of 125cc and below – primary mode of transport mainly in urban areas
- Very hard to reach group!
Profiling:
- Young males (69%)
- Tend to be from slightly more deprived areas
- 69% of young rider KSI collisions are on urban roads – roundabouts; junctions; filtering
- Young riders tend to have most of their collisions during week day commuting times
- Usually an increase in young-rider casualties in autumn
The campaign:
- Face to face
- Online
- Online Competition
- Prize Bikes
Objectives:
- To enhance SERP’s level of engagement and education with young new and prospective riders
- To provide helpful advice and guidance on a range of riding related topics
- To raise awareness of risk and consequence whilst riding a P2W on the roads
- Highlight the benefits of appropriate PPE
- To encourage a safer, more responsible approach to riding, and personal safety
Prize bikes:
- To increase interest and ‘buy in’ from young people the campaign included the chance to win one of two brand new bikes
Winners were also provided with:
- Full PPE:
- Crash helmet
- Textile armoured jacket
- Armoured jeans
- Gloves
- Boots
- A years free insurance
Activity:
- Launched – 11th September 2018
- Closed July 2019
- 21 specific events (schools and colleges)
- 3,145 interactions
- 4,687 website visits
- 494 competition entries
“I thought it was a great idea as it helps to show the dangers when riding a bike but also the ways to prevent those dangers.
“It taught me how to be safer on the roads and how properly fitting gear could save you from serious injuries. Thank you, SERP!”
Street Spirit 2020:
- Launching March 2020
- Re-filming videos
- VR360 film – riding tips:
- Roundabouts
- Junctions
- Filtering
Keith Millard, Senior Behavioural Change Officer, Northamptonshire Highways
Keith retired from the police in November 2014, having spent the last 18 years of his service as a forensic collision investigator. He has been actively involved in road safety for around 15 years, during which time he has worked closely with the road safety team at Northamptonshire County Council.
Presentation: The County School Challenge
- A collaboration between a number of regional road safety partners
- Asks schools (Years 7, 8 & 9) to come up with social enterprise ideas under the theme of road safety
- A total of 23 schools participated, identifying reasons why 12 to 16-year-olds were vulnerable road users and coming up with strategies to keep them safe
- At the final, eight schools presented their ideas to a Dragons’ Den style panel of judges – including representatives from Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service, Northamptonshire Police, Northamptonshire County Council and Northamptonshire Highways.
- The winning idea, by Southfield School in Kettering, was a community graffiti road art project for young people, to help spread road safety messages.
- Artwork displayed at local fire station
- As well as receiving vouchers and goody bags, the winning team have been given support to help make their idea become a reality
Rhiannon Leeds, Lancashire Road Safety Partnership (LRSP) & Clare Burscough, Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service (LFRS)
Rhiannon Leeds has worked in road safety for 15 years and is currently the coordinator for the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership.
Her multi-agency role covers a wide range of intervention, initiative and project management.
Clare Burscough joined Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service as a community safety advisor in 2008. As part of this role she became involved the delivery of road safety education packages.
Presentation: RoadSense (transition to secondary school)
Identified pedestrians aged between 6-10 years & 11-16 years at risk.
Why this age? – travel independently, further & peer pressure.
As a result, replaced all year 6 (top of primary school) fire safety input with road safety education
Led to the creation of…
RoadSense
- RoadSense is a video based presentation in a classroom with one class at a time to enable interaction.
- The content is designed to support open discussion – because that’s where the learning is.
- The topics are based on contributory factors to collisions and the risk for this young age …
- Even since the start of this initiative we’ve adapted the content to fit the need – for example bus safety following a fatality.
Delivery has been to more 30,000 pupils.
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