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ROAD
SAFETY NEWS - WEEK COMMENCING 22 SEPTEMBER
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Government
announces funding to tackle school run congestion
New plans to boost walking, cycling and bus travel to school and
tackle congestion around the school run were announced last week
by education secretary Charles Clarke and transport secretary
Alistair Darling. The Government is providing over
£50m over the next two years to help support the plans.‘Travelling
to School: - an action plan’ is designed to help schools
promote safe and healthy travel to school. It asks schools and
local authorities to work together to put in place a school travel
plan over the next few years, in consultation with parents, pupils
and local transport organisations.
The Government will also support sustainable school travel by
providing £7.5m per year for at least two years to fund
more local authority based school travel advisers who will help
schools carry out surveys and prepare plans.
Announcing the action plan, Charles Clarke said:
"Twice as many children are driven to school now in comparison
with 20 years ago – around 40 per cent of primary pupils
and 20 per cent of secondary pupils. Most of these journeys are
less than two miles.
"Increased car use also means falling numbers of children
walking or cycling with serious health implications in terms of
lack of daily exercise and a growing proportion of children who
are overweight.
"That is why we want to encourage schools and local education
authorities to use these ideas to make walking, cycling and bus
travel safe, realistic options for more schools and their pupils.
This is about ideas and encouragement – not prescription."
Paul Osborne, Sustrans safe routes to schools director
responded positively, saying: "Sustrans is delighted that
transport and education ministers are joining forces to promote
alternatives to school journeys made by car. Every child should
have the right to a safe and healthy route to school and this
is a significant step forward."
The web address for Travelling to School: an action plan, is www.teachernet.gov.uk/sdtravel.
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Home
zone speed cuts fall short
The first ‘before and after’ study of a UK home zone has
found it made little difference to travel behaviour, street activity
and noise or pollution, even though the scheme is popular with residents
(Surveyor, 11 September).
Traffic calming on the main route through The Methleys in Leeds
did cut average speeds by about 6mph, but speeds were still 5/6mph
higher than the zone’s 10mph target. And only 20 per cent of
vehicles observed that limit, according to a report by TRL.
Interviews with residents of the Chapel Allerton neighbourhood north
of the city centre suggested the trailblazing project had not encouraged
them to walk or cycle more, that most children were no more likely
to play outdoors, and that journeys to and from school were no better.
Two thirds of respondents also thought traffic noise and pollution
were much the same.
Nevertheless, TRL reports ‘very positive support’ for
the scheme. Staggered planting, a new shared surface at footway
level, and speed cushions were installed. The zone also features
gateway treatments, 20mph and home zone signing. |
Home
Office to provide better support for road crash victims
A £480,000 scheme to help road crash victims and their families
was announced last week by the Home Office. The money will fund
three pilot projects across the UK - in Bedfordshire, Merseyside
and Calderdale and Bradford - designed to test different approaches
to supporting both those bereaved by road death and those left seriously
injured.
The pilot projects follow a Home Office review conducted last autumn.
It identified three main strands to providing appropriate care services
for road crash victims: practical help, emotional support and timely
and accurate information.
The projects will test the various local support service options.
A key objective is ensuring that people are suitably informed and
fully aware of the services available to them and how best to access
them. Help with arranging a funeral is one example of how practical
support may be offered.
The strategy ‘A New Deal for Victims & Witnesses’,
which was published in July, outlined the Government’s commitment
to improving the way in which the criminal justice system responds
to the needs of victims, including the significant proportion involved
in road crashes.
Baroness Scotland, Minister for the Criminal Justice
System and Law Reform said: "Supporting victims is a worthwhile
end in itself but it is also fundamental to successfully re-balancing
the Criminal Justice System in favour of victims. We want to put
their needs at its very heart.
"These pilots present a real opportunity to learn more about
the support given to road crash victims. They embody all that we
are seeking to achieve – local service providers working collaboratively
within their communities, with a diverse range of help available
to victims." |
MAD
plans for camera sabotage
Anti-speed camera activists have vowed to mount an ongoing national
campaign of sabotage after disabling 29 cameras along London’s
North Circular Road for the second year running ((Surveyor, 11 September).
A group calling itself Motorists Against Detection (MAD) claimed
responsibility for spray painting the cameras along a 27-mile stretch
of the route. The same sites were targeted last year. This was followed
by reports that more than 700 cameras across Britain had already
been damaged in a campaign orchestrated by gangs using websites
and internet chatrooms.
In a statement posted on the web MAD said it had kicked off its
new direct action campaign with an attack on 'the UK’s most
profitable speed camera’ on the M11, near Woodford, Essex.
The statement added that MAD supported the use of speed cameras
in built-up areas but objected to their use on trunk roads and motorways. |
Funding
announced to tackle potholes on local roads
Potholes could be filled much more efficiently on local roads through
the use of new technology and £3.6m Government funding.
The money is being used to fund a new research programme to adapt
the TRACS vehicle - currently used by the Highways Agency to measure
road conditions on motorways and trunk roads - for use by local
authorities on smaller roads. The vehicle allows road surface condition
to be measured from a vehicle moving at prevailing traffic speeds,
allowing condition data to be collected safely, efficiently and
without disruption to traffic.
More @ www.dft.gov.uk |
HSE
publishes guidance on work related road safety
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published free guidance
on work-related road safety, aimed at any employer, manager or supervisor
with staff who drive or ride a motorcycle or bicycle at work.
Driving at work: Managing work-related road safety has been produced
in partnership with the DfT and alerts employers and the self-employed
to the fact that their responsibilities under current health and
safety law extend to driving at work. It contains generic advice
on managing work-related road safety effectively and on integrating
it into existing health and safety arrangements.
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.
"This is a valuable document which alerts employers to their
responsibilities for managing the health and safety of their employees
when driving at work," Bill Callaghan, Chair
of HSC, stated. "It will be of great help also to employees
and their health and safety representatives.
The effective management of work-related road safety will help reduce
the risk to their employees and to other road users, including pedestrians."
Copies of ‘Driving at Work: Managing work-related road safety’
(HSE Ref. INDG382), are available free of charge from HSE Books,
PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA, Tel: 01787-881165/Fax: 01787-313995.
There will be a small charge for bulk orders to cover postage and
packing.
Copies can also be downloaded free from the HSE website at www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg382.pdf |
Suffolk
cuts speed on major trunk road
Suffolk County Council has cut the speed on
the main route between Ipswich and Norwich to 50mph to reduce accidents
(Surveyor, 11 September).
The county council has placed an experimental 50mph limit on the
A140, which sees average speeds of 73mph on some sections and 29.5
accidents every year. |
GEM
provides free booklet for National Personal Safety Week
The Guild of Experienced Motorists (GEM) is
offering its comprehensive Personal Safety On The Road booklet free
of charge to the public as part of its commitment to National Personal
Safety Week (13 – 17 October).
The pocketsize glossy publication features vital advice for all
road users but with a special emphasis towards women.
It has been designed as an always-to-hand reference document if
an incident such as a collision or breakdown occurs, as well as
giving an overview on how to plan personal safety.
It also covers the most commonly feared crises such as experiencing
road rage, breaking down in a vulnerable situation and coping after
a collision.
It also advises on more mundane but potentially escalating situations
such as the occupant of another car attempting to draw a driver’s
attention at traffic lights.
It is packed with practical, easy-to-follow advice on safe travelling
through towns at night, parking, what to include in an emergency
kit, travelling with children, seat belts and safety seats. It aims
to provide the reader with guidance to encourage confidence while
retaining composure and authority when dealing with difficult situations.
The booklet is available free from GEM, Station Road, Forest Row,
East Sussex RH18 5EN or call 01342 825676 or visit www.roadsafety.org.uk. |
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