..presenting road safety across the UK


ROAD SAFETY NEWS - WEEK COMMENCING 30 JUNE

Road casualties down in 2002
Casualty figures published by the DfT last week show that there were 302,605 road casualties in Great Britain in 2002 - three per cent fewer than in 2001. Of those, some 39,407 people were killed or seriously injured, again three per cent below the 2001 figure.

Road traffic levels were three per cent higher than in 2001 and consequently the casualty rate per 100 million vehicle kilometres was six per cent lower than in 2001.

There were 221,751 road accidents involving personal injury, three per cent less than in 2001. Of these, 33,645 accidents involved death or serious injury.

Key points in the report are:

  • Child casualties fell by nine per cent. There were 179 child fatalities, 18 per cent less than in 2001. These are the lowest child casualty figures for 20 years - mainly due to a very large decrease in the number of child pedestrians who died.
  • Pedestrian casualties were 38,784, four per cent lower than 2001. Pedestrian deaths fell by six per cent to 775, and serious injuries fell by five per cent to 7,856.
  • The number of serious injuries to pedal cyclists fell by nine per cent to 2,320, and the number killed fell by six per cent to 130. Total casualties among pedal cyclists fell by 11 per cent to 17,107.
  • There were 28,353 two-wheeled motor vehicle user casualties, two per cent less than in 2001. The number killed increased by four per cent to 609 and the number seriously injured increased by three per cent to 6,891. However, motorcycle traffic in 2002 was five per cent higher than in 2001 so the rate of killed and seriously injured casualties per 100 million vehicle kilometres fell.
  • The number of deaths among car users was 1,747, just two less than in the previous year. The number of seriously injured fell by four per cent to 16,981. Total casualties among car users were 197,425, three per cent lower than 2001.

More @ www.dft.gov.uk
Final call for drivers using hand held mobiles…
Driving while using a hand-held mobile phone will soon be a specific offence, road safety minister David Jamieson announced last week.

The new offence will take effect from 1 December 2003. Initially offenders will be subject to a £30 fine, which can be increased to a maximum fine of £1000 if the matter goes to court. The Government is planning to legislate to make it an endorseable offence so that drivers will get three points on their licence each time they are caught holding a phone.

"Driving whilst using a mobile phone is dangerous," David Jamieson said.
"We are all too familiar with the sight of people driving along while holding and talking on their mobile phones. Any driver will be distracted by a phone call or text message. It affects the ability to concentrate and anticipate the road ahead, putting the driver and other road users at risk.

"Our decision to introduce this new offence will make the roads safer for us all. Missing a call won’t kill you – an accident quite possibly could."

Research has demonstrated that if you drive and use a mobile phone you are four times more likely to have an accident. Hands-free calls are also distracting and drivers should be aware that they still risk prosecution for failing to have proper control of their vehicle, for careless or even reckless driving if use of a phone affects their driving in this way.

More @ www.dft.gov.uk
… but RoSPA voices fears over new mobile laws
RoSPA has welcomed the Government’s decision to ban the use of hand-held mobile phones while driving - but also warned that motorists should not think hands-free sets are safe.

According to RoSPA, research shows that whether the equipment is hand-held or hands-free, talking on a phone makes drivers four times more likely to have an accident. Ideally, RoSPA would like drivers prohibited from using hands-free phones as well.

RoSPA claims to know of more than 20 deaths on Britain’s roads where mobile phones have been implicated – and hands free phones were being used in at least two of those tragedies.

Kevin Clinton, RoSPA head of road safety, said: "We are delighted to see a new law but it will not have the impact we have been hoping for if people switch to hands-free devices. It is the telephone conversation that is the main problem - people are drawn into the conversation and ignore what is happening on the road around them. They vary their speed, drive closer to other vehicles, wander about on the road and their reactions are slower.

"We are worried that the powerful mobile phone industry will use the new law as an opportunity to market hands-free kits claiming they are safe, when in fact they are not.

"RoSPA urges bosses to make it a disciplinary offence for an employee to use a mobile phone while driving on company business. If they don’t, and the worker has an accident, then the company could face action under health and safety law.

"The fact that the people found guilty of the new offence will also incur penalty points should make occupational drivers in particular think twice about using their phones as it could lead to them losing their job if they are banned.

"People should switch off their phones when they get into their vehicles and not use them again until they are parked in a safe spot - as the Highway Code advises," he concluded.

More @ www.rospa.co.uk.
Government awards CTC grant to develop cycle training
CTC, the UK's national cyclists' organisation was last week awarded a top grant from the Government's Cycling Projects Fund to continue its development of cycle training schemes throughout England.

CTC launched a national guide for setting up training schemes at its National Cycle Training Conference in May and has now been awarded £47,950 as part of a £190,000 scheme to set up a national instructor training scheme.

CTC Director Kevin Mayne, who has led CTC's recent work in this area, said: "We are delighted to receive this grant as the next stage of our programme. There is strong evidence that training cyclists has a positive effect on the amount they cycle and their confidence, and improves their safety. Despite this there is national shortage of instructors and we will use this funding to give the whole sector a kick-start. Once instructors are in place we can expect thousands of people to benefit."

The CTC programme will allow potential instructors from local community groups, schools, employers or clubs to have courses free or at nominal cost. Experienced instructors will give training in basic maintenance and child protection as well as cycle instruction.

Kevin Mayne added: "28 of the 155 projects awarded funding by the Cycling Projects Fund have some training element in their work, a similar figure to the previous round. Across the country around a third of school children get some training, but almost half of this does not meet national standards. Now we have established some national guidelines it is important that the whole cycling and road safety world starts working towards them. This is a great opportunity for established instructors to reach nationally recognised standards, as well as new instructors starting up."

For more details call CTC director Kevin Mayne 01483 520742, or email Kevin.mayne@ctc.org.uk
LARSOA compliments Top Gear
LARSOA vice chair Simon Ettinghausen wrote to the BBC's Top Gear to congratulate the programme makers for the way it handled a 30mph crash test.

Here is the text of his letter:

"LARSOA (the Local Authority Road Safety Officers Association) was pleased to see the feature carried in Top Gear's programme broadcast on 22 June 2003 in which a 'stunt driver' crashed a Renault Megane into another car at 30mph.

This was a very responsible and well-produced piece of broadcasting which will have raised viewers' awareness of the Euro-NCAP safety ratings. We hope the piece will help reassure some of those who complain that Top Gear does not sometimes treat safety with the importance it deserves.

Because Top Gear is such an influential series we hope future programmes will include similar pieces about other safety-related issues. Possible subjects you might like to consider include: young drivers, the effect of passengers on driver behaviour, peer pressure, hazard awareness, drink and drugs and driving, fatigue, and inappropriate speed.

We would be very happy to help develop some of these themes if you wish."
BMF backs North Wales protest run
The British Motorcyclists Federation (BMF) backed a protest run last weekend organised by a Denbigh bike dealer against harsh policing tactics employed by North Wales Police.

The protest left Denbigh at 12.00 noon on Sunday and travelled to Police Headquarters, Colwyn Bay, to present deputy chief constable Bill Brereton with a letter of protest.

The organiser, Alan Shepherd, managing director of A&D Motorcycles, said: "I'm involved in this as someone who is passionate about riding bikes. We all want to see casualties in North Wales reduced but the answer lies in education and persuasion directed at the minority of people who are riding badly - not persecution of everyone on two wheels."

The BMF’s regional chairman Keith Taylor from Conwy - who is a member of the police backed North Wales Alliance, an initiative designed to address the problem of motorcycle related accidents - said: "We don’t deny there is a problem but it’s wrong to tar all motorcyclists with the same brush. All we want is for motorcyclists to be treated the same as every other road user.

Those who ride or drive dangerously - be it too fast or recklessly - should of course be prosecuted, but the vast majority of riders are responsible and safe and merely out for a ride on the wonderful roads of North Wales."

The BMF is concerned that ‘road-side stops’ are becoming commonplace and that the only ‘crime’ to have been committed is riding a motorcycle.

More @ www.bmf.co.uk
Local authorities seek talks with HA about motorway management
Senior county officers have called for further talks with the Highways Agency over its plans to manage incidents on motorways and key trunk roads, amid fears that the change could see additional traffic pushed on to the already congested local network (Surveyor, 26 June).

Senior county officials said the handover agreed with chief police officers was good news for drivers if it reduced motorway hold-ups, but they feared that the established network of diversionary routes would be used more often.