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ROAD SAFETY NEWS - WEEK COMMENCING 22 DECEMBER

Begg urges road safety rethink as camera criticisms grow
Commission for Integrated Transport chairman David Begg has urged ministers to revise the Government’s road safety strategy by introducing stricter drink-driving laws, more traffic police and hypothecating all speed camera revenues to road safety initiatives (Local Transport Today, 11 December).

His call came as the Government faces mounting pressure from newspapers, motoring organisations and the Conservative opposition to halt the rising number of safety cameras on Britain’s roads.

Despite official statistics showing that the number of people killed or seriously injured in 2002 was 17 per cent below the 1994-98 figure, there is growing concern within the Government and road safety profession that the number of road deaths each year has remained at about 3,400 since 1998.
Glasgow admits 20mph zone criteria are too tough
Glasgow City Council has relaxed the way it decides to designate 20mph zones after no schemes passed the current rules (Local Transport Today 11 December 2003).

The existing rules, set last year, require there to be a minimum of 60 per cent support among local residents and businesses for advisory 20mph zones and 80 per cent support for mandatory zones. The criteria also state that drivers should not have to drive more that 600 metres to reach the end of the zone.

For mandatory zones there have to have been, in the previous three years, a minimum of three pedestrian injury accidents on any 100 metre length of road within the zone.

Glasgow’s director of land services, Robert Booth, told councillors last week that in practice the criteria had proved too restrictive.
DfT publishes travel survey statistics
The DfT last week published national statistics showing the travel habits of residents of Great Britain.

The findings include:
  • On average UK residents travelled 7,000 miles in 2002 - an increase of eight per cent since 1991/1993, reflecting a 13 per cent increase in the average length of trip from 6.1 miles to 6.9 miles.
  • The average number of trips made in 2002 was 1,000 per person - five per cent less than in 1991/1993.
  • The total number of hours the average person travelled in a year rose five per cent above the level which had prevailed for the last decade - reflecting an increase in the average time per trip for most modes and an increase in car driver trips.
  • 28 per cent of households in Great Britain did not have access to a car in 2002, compared with 32 per cent in 1991/1993. Only 20 per cent of people lived in households without a car as households without cars tend to be smaller than average.
  • The proportion of women holding a full car driving licence has increased from 53 to 61 per cent since 1991/1993, while the proportion of men holding a licence has remained at 81 per cent. Licence holding among those aged 60-69 rose from 57 to 70 per cent over this period.
  • Car travel accounted for four fifths of the total distance travelled. Overall, the distance travelled by car has increased by 10 per cent over the last 10 years.
  • The number of walking trips has fallen by over 20 per cent in the same period.
  • The number of commuting trips per person per year has fallen by eight per cent in the last 10 years but the average trip length rose by 17 per cent.
  • Since 1991/1993, the proportion of primary-aged children walking to school has declined from 60 to 51 per cent, with an increase from 29 to 41 per cent in the numbers being driven to school. For secondary school pupils there was a similar shift from walking to car use.

More @ www.dft.gov.uk
Study shows one million drive unlicenced on UK’s roads
Road safety minister David Jamieson last week unveiled the results of a major investigation into the extent of unlicensed driving on the UK’s roads.

The report found that there are around one million unlicensed drivers compared with 32 million legal drivers. Unlicensed drivers are up to nine times more likely to have an accident and are involved in about 7,000 injury crashes every year.

"The unlicensed driver is an anti-social and dangerous menace," David Jamieson said. "While the vast majority of drivers are law abiding there is a class of criminal on our roads who drive unlicensed, untaxed, uninsured, and probably without MOT - showing little regard for the law or the safety of other road users.

" We are taking robust action to deal with this menace, including the widespread introduction of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), which allows police to target unlicensed vehicles on the road," Mr Jamieson added.

"The introduction of continuous registration, allowing DVLA to prosecute those avoiding road tax, will also help to improve detection as many unlicensed drivers will also be untaxed and will not have registered the vehicle in their name. Offenders should be in no doubt that driving unlicensed is a criminal offence that we shall pursue vigorously."

23 police forces are involved in an extended trial of using ANPR to deny criminals the use of the road. The original trial for Project LASER in Northamptonshire showed that 82 per cent of those stopped for being untaxed were also involved in some other form of criminality - 15 per cent of arrests made related to unlicensed driving.

More @ www.dft.gov.uk.
Brake condemns anti camera campaigners
The road safety charity Brake has condemned fringe anti-speed camera groups for illegal and offensive ‘bullyboy tactics’ following threats posted on a motoring website against its chief executive, Mary Williams OBE.

The threats, outlined last week in The Times, appeared on a motoring website. They were removed following a formal warning from police using anti-harassment legislation. According to Brake, anti-camera campaigners have defended the threats.

"Anti-camera campaigners who break laws such as avoiding paying fines, necklacing cameras, or making nasty threats against individuals working for road safety are being exposed for what they are - bully boys," Mary Williams said. "Journalists using information from these sources should be advised to bear this in mind and treat information and statistics supplied by them with extreme caution."

Brake says it will continue to support Government policy on speed cameras on the evidence of their success at reducing speeds and casualties.

Rob Gifford, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Committee on Transport Safety (PACTS) said: "Debates about the effectiveness of speed cameras should be held on the basis of research, not personal abuse. I am surprised that the opponents of cameras have sunk to such depths."
Met accuses London Boroughs over speed humps
The Metropolitan Police has weighed into the controversy over road humps by accusing London Boroughs of failing to follow a Government code of practice on traffic calming (Surveyor, 11 December).

In evidence to the London Assembly’s inquiry into the impact of speed bumps, the force suggests authorities have ignored guidance that they should agree on the key routes used by the emergency services.

The intervention surprised local authorities already contesting claims from the ambulance service that road humps and other highway engineering measures cost lives.
North Somerset threatens to quit safety camera group
North Somerset Council claims that its local safety camera partnership (covering Avon, Somerset and Gloucestershire) is losing the public relations battle over safety cameras (Local Transport Today, 11 December). It has threatened to quit the partnership unless the situation improves.

"The partnership is losing the battle well and truly," said Peter Burden, the council’s executive member for strategic planning. "It’s a PR disaster for anyone involved in it at the moment. The public see cameras as totally a fund-raising issue. If we could genuinely convince people of the link between road safety and speed enforcement then perhaps we’d get somewhere."

The council’s chief executive is to work with the partnership to secure ‘significant improvements, failing which the council will be asked to reconsider its position with respect to membership of the partnership’.

Burden said he wanted one notorious camera site replaced by vehicle activated signs and all fine revenues re-invested in road safety.
More effort required to tackle drink drive ‘reckless minority’
Seven out of 10 young adults say they have never driven after drinking, according to a new survey by The Portman Group and motoring organisation RAC.

But the other 30 per cent - who said they had got behind the wheel after a drink - are still coming up with familiar excuses. These included ‘I’ve only had a couple – I’m fine to drive’, ‘Everyone does it’ and ‘I won’t get stopped’.

Commenting on the survey results, The Portman Group chief executive, Jean Coussins, said: "These figures show that while many young people have got the message that drinking and driving never mix, we still have work to do to beat the hard core. The old excuses just don’t wash; everyone needs to continue to push the only safe message, which is ‘Don’t drink and drive’.

Nominating a designated non-drinking driver is a simple solution that allows groups of friends to go out for an evening, safe in the knowledge that the driver taking them home won’t have had a drink."

The survey findings come the week after the Government’s drink-drive television advertising campaign hit TV screens for the Christmas season.

"What will it take to stop you drink driving? Think!" is aimed particularly at 17-29 year old men who figure in many casualties and positive breath tests.

The Portman Group/RAC survey shows that 61 per cent of motorists believe that this type of hard-hitting advertising campaign does influence them into not drinking and driving, though 13 per cent of respondents commented that they had not noticed any campaigns running recently.
York hosts LTP conference
City of York Council is hosting 'Leadership in Transport' on 23 January at the Moat House Hotel, York. The conference offers the opportunity to hear how the Transport Local Authority of the Year 2003 has delivered congestion busting projects through its Local Transport Plan.

The keynote speech, ‘The politics of delivering transport policy’ will be delivered by Professor David Begg of the Commission for Integrated Transport. Officers from York will lead workshops in the afternoon, giving everyone the opportunity to take part in the day.

To find out more about the conference, including a full programme for the day and booking details visit www.york.gov.uk/transport or e-mail transportconference@york.gov.uk