Welcome to the June Newsletter.
EVENTS
Triple Whammy: Achieving safety, sustainability and health goals in transport
Event date: Wednesday 16th October 2013
Location: Royal College of Surgeons.
This conference will bring together experts from across sectors to place safety in a wider policy framework by examining synergies with sustainable travel and public health, and exploring practical ways in which more joined-up working can deliver better outcomes.
NEWS
UN Global Road Safety Week
Breakfast Briefing
To mark the Second UN Global Road Safety Week (6 – 11th May) PACTS held a breakfast briefing at Westminster for key stakeholders on the topic of the week, pedestrian safety, with a keynote address from the Secretary of State. Three other speakers covered international, engineering and health links to pedestrian safety. Sheila Watson of FIA Foundation talked about the appalling scale of pedestrian casualties in developing countries; Colin Chick of Luton Borough Council highlighted engineering measures to promote walking and pedestrian safety at local level; and Lucy Saunders of GLA revealed the wonder drug for the 21st century – walking!
Stepping Out Report
PACTS was very pleased to publish a report into pedestrian casualties from Road Safety Analysis, made possible by the financial support of the Safer Roads Foundation and IAM (The Institute of Advanced Motorists). This report was launched at the Breakfast Briefing and is available to read here. Compared with many countries around the world – when measured in terms of casualties per 100,000 population – the UK has a relatively good pedestrian casualty record. Yet progress in recent years has been disappointing. The report provides detailed information to local authorities and others on the latest trends in pedestrian casualties and contributory factors.
Letter to the Times
PACTS also coordinated a letter to the Times signed by 25 individuals from Parliament, academia, NGOs and business. We are grateful to independent campaigner and PACTS associate member Anthony Fletcher for his help.
5th International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD) and 2nd UN Global Road Safety Week
Representatives from Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) took part in a press conference and roundtable discussions to launch the fifth International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD) on 7 May. This was one of series of events hosted by the UN in Geneva as part of the second UN Global Road Safety Week.
ILCAD is organized by the International Union of Railways (UIC) and this year forty-two countries have been involved with the common message “Act safely at level crossings”. The focus was young people and the particular issue of distraction by using telephones or i-pods.
Transportation Professional Magazine/CIHT – Interview with PACTS Executive Director
David Davies talks about the Graduated Driver Licence, the new Transport Safety Commission and the 2011 Strategic Framework for Road Safety.
MAST to include contributory factors
MAST Online, a web based data analysis tool for road safety, will now include contributory factors.
Getting young drivers back on the roads – in safety
Following feedback on our paper on young drivers, we have provided some additional notes and clarification to some figures. Read the paper here.
It now seems likely that the Government will not publish the Green Paper until the summer.
INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH
As well as encouraging and supporting the sharing of Britain’s expertise and knowledge, PACTS is committed to using the Decade of Action for Road Safety as an opportunity to build on existing European and international contacts and learn from experience from outside the UK. Therefore each month a publication from a different country will be featured on the Decade of Action website.
The IRTAD Annual Report 2013 provides an overview for road safety indicators for 2011 in 37 countries, with preliminary data for 2012, and detailed report for each country The report outlines the crash data collection process in IRTAD countries, describes the road safety strategies and targets in place and provides detailed safety data by road user, location and age together with information on recent trends in speeding, drink-driving and other aspects of road user behaviour.
2012 will mark a record year, with figures showing the lowest fatalities on record for most OECD-IRTAD countries
Results have been less positive for vulnerable road users. Between 2000 and 2010, in OECD-IRTAD countries pedestrian and cyclist deaths fell by only one third, and those of moped and motorcycle riders by only 14%.
The safety of vulnerable road users continues to be a core road safety issue, not least in lower income countries. Also, with many countries seeking to encourage active mobility, improving safety for pedestrians and cyclists is a priority.
PARLIAMENT
DEBATES
Road Traffic Offences (Sentencing)
Date: May 16, 2013
Mr Mark Spencer (Sherwood) (Con): First, let me say that it is not my intention to take up the full two hours that are available to us for this debate, but I do want to raise an issue that is very important, in particular to my Sherwood constituency. One of the issues on which I stood for election was resolving the terrible road safety record in Sherwood, particularly around the A614, a stretch of road with which all in the east midlands will be familiar. There have been a lot of fatal accidents on it, with people killed at some of the terrible junctions. That was affecting the local community.
Read the full debate here.
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS
Parliamentary questions are tools that can be used by Members of Parliament to seek information or to press for action. They oblige Ministers to explain and defend the work, policy decisions and actions of their Departments.
All transport safety parliamentary questions and PACTS comments can be viewed here.
This question was asked on the 22nd May:
Daylight Saving
Asked by Lord Tanlaw
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the re-introduction of single/double summer time will reduce road deaths; and whether they will publish the road casualty statistics, including date and time, from the 1968-71 daylight saving experiment to inform debate on the matter.
Earl Attlee: My Lords, we estimate that 54 deaths and 185 serious casualties would be avoided annually across Great Britain if single/double summer time were adopted. However, this would have a much wider effect on the economy and society, which must also be taken into account. The Department for Transport does not hold road casualty statistics from before 1979. Officials are investigating whether other organisations hold the statistics. If they can be obtained, I will make them available.
Read the subsequent debate on this topic here.
PACTS MEMBER NEWS
Sixth International Conference in Driver Behaviour and Training (ICDBT6) hosted by Cranfield University
19-20th August 2013
Helsinki
Seventy research papers across nineteen symposiums with contributions from road safety researchers and organisations from over 30 countries will be presented. High calibre academic institutions and road safety groups will provide the audience with an exciting forum from which to network and learn more about some of the cutting-edge research taking place around the world.
Congratulations to PACTS members Shell for winning a Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for commitment to road safety. Read about Shell’s award here.
PACTS welcomes new member Clearview Traffic Group
“Clearview Traffic Group is pleased to join PACTS and we are looking forward to working in partnership with the membership. We are committed to supporting local authorities, the Highways Agency and road operators across the UK to maximise the efficiency and safety of our road networks.
Through our brands, Astucia and Golden River Traffic, we have been contributing to improving road safety standards, in the UK and overseas, for many years. Astucia active road studs substantially reduce night time road casualties. Our Golden River product range has been delivering traffic data collection solutions for nearly forty years. We also offer a ‘data as a service’ option, delivering traffic flow data to the National Traffic Information Service and monitoring the UK’s DBFO schemes and similar services worldwide.
We are developing solutions that will become integral to smarter infrastructure and exploit the potential of big data. We are keen to share our learning in these areas. We intend to become active participants in PACTS to ensure that society makes best use of data to improve the experience for all road users.”
Wayne Stant, Head of Product & Marketing, Clearview Traffic Group Ltd
EXTERNAL EVENTS
TISPOL Conference 2013 – booking now open
1 & 2 October 2013
Radisson Blu Airport Hotel, Manchester Airport
Tracking the safety performance of Britain’s motorways and A roads
For the 11th consecutive year, the Road Safety Foundation will launch its annual EuroRAP results on the safety of Britain’s roads on Thursday 24 October at a breakfast briefing in the House of Lords hosted by the Lord Dubs of Battersea. The Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick McLoughlin, has accepted an invitation to make a keynote address at the meeting.
Places are very limited and if you would like an invitation to this event, please contact brenda.king@roadsafetyfoundation.org
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