RSGB appoints new director of communications

Road Safety GB has appointed Steve Horton as its new director of communications.

Steve Horton succeeds Iain Temperton who spent two-years in the post until November 2017.

Steve’s road safety career spans almost three decades, all of which has been spent with Kent County Council.

He took up his first post of district road safety officer in 1989, before being promoted to road safety officer in 1994 and road safety team leader in 2002.

He took up his current post of casualty reduction manager in 2015, which involves managing teams that deliver ETP, cyclist and pedestrian training, Kent’s School Crossing Patrol service, the statutory duty for crash data and the local safety camera partnership.

He has management responsibility for 22 permanent staff, 60 casual staff and 150 SCP officers, and for a budget of around £2m.

In 2015 he also became chair of Road Safety GB South East Regional Group.

Since 2002 Steve has been Kent County Council’s lead officer for road safety and casualty reduction media interaction. He is highly experienced in dealing with a range of media including TV, radio, social media and newspapers and magazine, and is comfortable speaking to journalists in both live and pre-record settings.

Steve says he is committed to education as a way of preparing people for safer road use. He also believes in helping individuals understand their responsibility to reduce their own risk, as well as the risk they create for others.

He feels it is important to identify and address ‘perpetrator’ behaviours that lead to crashes; dealing with the source of the problem, rather than the outcome.

He is a strong advocate of the importance of evaluation in demonstrating the contribution road safety education makes to casualty reduction.

Speaking about his new role with Road Safety GB, Steve Horton said: “I’m looking forward to working with the Road Safety GB Board to further develop and strengthen the organisation, and to helping Road Safety GB maintain and enhance its credibility among road safety professionals and the wider community.

“I’m particularly interested in helping Road Safety GB to sustain and increase the support it provides for local authority road safety teams and individual practitioners.

“If I can play a small part in achieving this I will be grateful to have been part of the Board.”