Road safety news in brief for the w/comm 23 October.
- Delegates encouraged to ‘horizon scan’ at annual Scottish seminar (26 Oct)
- Put children’s safety first… and put the clocks forward: GEM Motoring Assist (24 Oct)
- Irish and Belgian companies win ETSC’s 2017 work-related road safety awards (24 Oct)
- Road safety professionals urged to register for UK Road Safety Week (23 Oct)
- Primary school children celebrate active travel (23 Oct)
Click here to read the road safety news in brief from week commencing 16 October.
26 Oct: 12.00
Delegates encouraged to ‘horizon scan’ at annual Scottish seminar
More than 150 people attended an annual seminar organised by Road Safety Scotland, which this year was held at the Radisson Blu in Glasgow on 25 October.
The event began with a look at Scotland’s current casualty reduction targets, and finished with an ‘horizon scanning’ session in which delegates were asked to think about what a new road safety strategy beyond 2020 might look like.
In between, a wide variety of topics were discussed including pre-drivers, horse riders, driver fatigue, texting pedestrians, parental influence and the designated driver scheme.
There was also a presentation on Road Safety Scotland’s web presence and another on an evaluation of Road Safety Scotland’s learning resources. The conference presentations will be published on the Road Safety Scotland website in the near future.
TUESDAY 24 OCTOBER
24 Oct: 10.45
Put children’s safety first… and put the clocks forward: GEM Motoring Assist
The road safety organisation GEM Motoring Assist is urging the UK government to put children’s safety first by adopting Single/Double British Summertime (SDST).
GEM says the move – which involves an adjustment of the clocks to GMT + 1 in the winter and GMT + 2 in the summer – would prevent 80 deaths and more than 200 serious injuries on the UK’s road each year.
Neil Worth, GEM’s road safety officer, said: “Dark spells danger for pedestrians. There is a 10% rise in fatal pedestrian collisions during the four weeks after the clocks go back. This is bad news when the latest casualty figures already show a 10% rise in pedestrian fatalities year on year.
“Estimates from the DfT’s own research suggest the benefits of a move to SDST would amount to nearly £140m annually, with just a modest £5m one-off investment in communicating the change.
“We believe the reasons for opposing the change – generally from those representing the interests of farmers and postal workers – are irrelevant and outdated. After all, farming technology is vastly improved, and postal deliveries take place throughout the day, not purely in the early mornings.
“GEM, in line with all safety groups, supports a change to SDST, because it will make a significant contribution to reducing deaths and serious injuries on our roads.”
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24 Oct: 09.45
Irish and Belgian companies win ETSC’s 2017 work-related road safety awards
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has announced the 2017 winners of the PRAISE awards, in recognition of outstanding efforts taken by companies to improve road safety at work.
The large company award goes to National Vehicle Distribution (NVD), a family-owned vehicle transportation and storage company in Ireland. The small and medium-sized enterprise award goes to ATF, a Belgian road construction company. Jacobs, one of the world’s largest construction services firms, has been highly commended by the award judges.
Antonio Avenoso, executive director of ETSC said: “This year’s inspiring award winners demonstrate that road safety of employees is not just a company’s responsibility, it also makes for good business.
“PRAISE award winners have shown time and again that company-wide road safety programmes reduce insurance and fleet costs, cut employee sick days and improve customer service.”
The winners will be honoured at a conference and award ceremony to be held in Brussels today (24 Oct).
MONDAY 23 OCTOBER
23 Oct: 10.15
Road safety professionals urged to register for UK Road Safety Week
With a little under one month to go until the start of UK Road Safety Week, organisers Brake are encouraging practitioners to register for the event.
Now in its 20th year, UK Road Safety Week (20-26 November) sets out to inspire road safety professionals to join forces with local partners to run campaigns promoting safer roads.
Free resources on this year’s theme, Speed Down Save Lives, are now available to practitioners who register on the Road Safety Week website.
This includes downloadable and interactive resources aimed at both children and adults, advice on how to promote slower speed limits, benefits of new technologies such as intelligent speed assistance (ISA), and case studies of what others have done.
A new animated short film about the benefits of keeping to speeds will also be available exclusively to those who register.
Brake has also announced that BriteAngle, which makes warning triangles, will be co-sponsoring the event, alongside Aviva.
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23 Oct: 09.30
Primary school children celebrate active travel
Pupils from a primary school in Wales have been celebrating sustainable travel as part of a road safety event organised to mark the introduction of a new 20mph zone outside the school.
Children from Derwendeg Primary School were challenged to either cycle or walk to school – with the winning class achieving 85% of journeys made by foot or on two wheels.
Members of Caerphilly County Borough Council’s road safety team were joined by Cllr Sean Morgan, who awarded a trophy to the class who travel most sustainably to school.
Cllr Morgan said: “I was delighted to attend the road safety session at Derwendeg Primary School, where pupils displayed their enthusiasm for sustainable travel and road safety.”
‘Dr Bike’ also visited the school, testing over 20 bikes and scooters to ensure that they were roadworthy by testing and replacing brakes, pumping up tyres and changing inner tubes.
On the new 20mph limit, Cllr Morgan added: “A new 20mph zone has also been introduced in the area surrounding Derwendeg Primary School, which will help to ensure the safety of pupils travelling to and from school.”
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