..presenting road safety across the UK


ROAD SAFETY NEWS - WEEK COMMENCING 13 OCTOBER

THINK! campaign in sponsorship deal with the Football League
The Think! campaign has signed a new six-figure sponsorship deal with The Football League. The deal will link the Think! campaign with The League and 60 clubs from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Divisions.

Road safety messages will reach a wide audience via perimeter advertising boards at over 40 live TV games from Division 1, and at least five live TV games from Divisions 2 and 3. Games are televised live by Sky, with highlights on Sky and ITV. Locally, RSOs will be able to go to schools and help spread child road safety messages with the help of players from local Football League clubs.

"We already have a successful sponsorship arrangement with the Rugby League and I hope that we will enjoy an equally successful relationship with The Football League," road safety minister David Jamieson said.

Football League chairman, Brian Mawhinney, added: "We're delighted to enter into this partnership with the DfT and its Think! campaign. The Football League and its member clubs have an important role to play in their local communities and we take great pride in being able to promote a socially important message of this kind."

Match day sponsorship with each participating club will include a pre-match or half time presentation, Man of the Match award, programme advertisement, big screen advertising, scoreboard messages and tannoy advertising.

More @ dft.gov.uk
LARSOA chair denies ‘dangerous’ speed hump claim
LARSOA chairman Steve Whitehouse has rebuffed claims that thousands of traffic calming schemes are causing problems for emergency services and need to be removed (Surveyor, 2 October).

Conservatives in London are campaigning against ‘dangerous’ calming measures that they claim cut ambulance response times, and have urged councils to listen to DfT advice to review schemes.

The DfT has written to highway authorities asking them to discuss calming schemes with emergency services ‘where problems have been identified.’ This followed a London Ambulance Service claim that 500 lives are lost in London every year because of delays caused by road humps.

But Steve Whitehouse said: "I’ve seen no evidence to back the London Ambulance Service claim, which would translate into thousands of lost lives nationally. Until they provide this evidence there is no case for the wholesale removal of humps."

He added that calming measures are not installed ‘on a whim’, but after a lengthy and robust process examining the need for schemes - including consultation with the emergency services.

The LARSOA intervention comes as the London Assembly’s transport committee announced an inquiry into whether more humps should be removed..
£16m hi-tech road signs put motorists in the picture
New road signs that display pictures as well as text to inform motorists about road conditions and incidents on the motorway network were switched on last week - the first time such signs have been deployed in the UK. The signs are being trialled on the M4 between Jcns 12 and 14 before being installed elsewhere on the motorway network.

The signs will provide motorists with images about road conditions including high winds, snow and skidding. They will also indicate accidents, advisory speed limits and details of any lane closures.

"Providing motorists with prompt and accurate information about road conditions is essential for the smooth running of the network and making journeys safer and more reliable," said Transport Minister Kim Howells.

"These innovative signs can be understood at a glance and will assist drivers on their journey - allowing them to react and adapt to changeable road conditions."

The picture displays are consistent with those used across Europe and will also help foreign drivers using Britain's motorways and road networks.

More @ www.dft.gov.uk
LARSOA and CTC announce joint cycle training initiative
CTC, the national cyclists’ organisation, and LARSOA have agreed to join forces to create a curriculum and standards body for the training of cyclists.

The initiative follows consultation carried out by the CTC. One of the key recommendations following the consultation was that future development of training for cycle users should be supported by a national standards and curriculum group, combined with administration support structure for training providers and co-ordinated marketing support for cyclist training.

"Both CTC and LARSOA have a UK-wide network of members and contacts and a range of existing initiatives that can be brought together to provide consistency and support for providers and trainees," says Kevin Mayne, CTC director. "LARSOA has been researching and supporting cyclists’ training with its own research panel, which complements CTC's work and has made integration an obvious next step."

The LARSOA/CTC Cyclist Training Reference Group (CTRG) should be able to provide immediate support for the work of the National Cycling Strategy in England, which is working on exciting marketing and training initiatives for the promotion of cycling to young people.

A first meeting of the LARSOA/CTC CTRG is planned for November.
More @ www.ctc.org.uk.
DfT and HSE publish work-related road safety guidance
The DfT and HSE have jointly published new guidance, Driving at work: managing work-related road safety that is available in hard copy format and on the web.

The guidance applies to everyone who drives a vehicle or rides a motorcycle in the course of their work and should be useful to any manager or supervisor with staff who drive at work.

The guidance suggests areas to cover when considering how best to manage health and safety of drivers at work, including; legal responsibilities; benefits of managing work-related road safety; and assessing and evaluating risks on the road.

The production of generic guidance was a key recommendation of an independent work-related road safety Task Group, appointed by the Government and the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) in 2000. The Task Group estimated that up to a third of all road traffic accidents involve someone who is at work at the time. This may account for over 20 fatalities and 250 serious injuries every week.
Grass Routes final – places still available
There are still a few places available (free of charge) to attend the final of the RAC’s ‘Grass Routes: Investigating Safer Journeys’ challenge, which will take place in central London on 23 October.

The Grass Routes Challenge aims to raise awareness of the issues surrounding the school run and to promote road safety skills among the vulnerable 11-14 year old age group. This is the first year that pupils have been brought together to present their ideas at a national event. The schools participating in the final come from North Yorkshire, Lancashire, the Wirral and Kent.

Any road safety professional interested in attending the final should contact the RAC’s external affairs manager, Nicola Thunhurst on 020 8917 2937 or by email, nthunhurst@rac.co.uk.
Car clubs expand nationwide
Car club operator Smart Moves has opened a new car club in Brighton and expanded operations at its clubs in Edinburgh, Bristol and London by establishing additional designated parking bays (Local Transport Today, 2 October).

The Edinburgh scheme – the longest running of all – now has 230 members and a fleet of 17 cars.
Britain’s busy roads – it’s official
Britain has the busiest roads of any of the world’s most developed nations - and yet has one of the lowest levels of car ownership, according to international research on the car and society by the FIA Foundation and the AA Motoring Trust (Local Transport Today 2 October).

The report suggests that an increasingly important explanation for car ownership growth is people owning more than one vehicle to suit different types of trip. The research compared data from the G7 countries – Great Britain, USA, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan – and Spain.

Traffic flows on Britain’s motorways were found to be higher than any other G7 country – indeed, 50 per cent higher than the next busiest, Germany, and almost twice as high as the USA or Japan. Average traffic flows on all roads were higher in Britain than the other G7 countries.
Drivers turn blind eye to road safety
Motorists are literally turning a blind eye to safety by driving with poor eyesight, say researchers (Huddersfield Daily Examiner). More than one in 10 people surveyed who need to wear glasses or contact lenses admitted frequently driving without them.

A quarter of those taking part in the survey by car insurer Zurich say they haven't had an eye test in the last two years - even though opticians recommend annual checks. And a staggering one in 20 male motorists says they have never had their eyes checked.

But despite this, 97% agree that poor vision can cause accidents.
Also, more than half believe police should conduct on-the- spot tests if a motorist is stopped for erratic driving. And three-quarters of Britons believe an eye test certificate should be produced for driving tests. More than half feel such a certificate should be required to be produced while paying vehicle licence tax.

Sarah Fatica, spokeswoman for the road safety charity Brake, said drivers knew that wearing seat belts reduced their risk of injury, but when it came to their own bodies and avoiding accidents they ignored the warning signs.
She added that people would not use heavy machinery without being able to see, so why would they get behind the wheel of a car?

Ms Fatica said the charity was in favour of any change in the law that would require drivers to keep a spare set of glasses in their cars in case of emergencies.