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Awards celebrate road safety excellence

The BP Safer Driving Programme won the premier award at the 2006 Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards ceremony at The Savoy in London on 6 December.

BP's standard for driving safety, which comprises 10 common sense elements, has been implemented at all of the company's operations across the globe.

Announcing the overall winner, Prince Michael said: "Essential criteria the judges were looking for included teamwork, the global impact and an example that could and should be followed by others."

Adding his congratulations to all the winners, Dr Stephen Ladyman, road safety minister, said: "We wouldn't enjoy the success we have without the active involvement of many stakeholders across Britain - both within and outside government."

The other award winners were:-

The motorcycle industry award went to the DfT for developing the government's motorcycling strategy and the successful THINK! motorcycle campaign, which includes sponsorship of the British Superbike Championships.

Two other motorcycle initiatives were recognised with special awards.

The web-based Handle It or Lose It campaign, www.handleitorloseit.com , engages and then interacts with riders to try and alter their behaviour. The Highways Agency has provided funding for the site, which includes a reporting facility to identify roads that are in need of repair.

The IHIE's Guidelines for Motorcycling has been developed to help highway and traffic engineers to develop a safer and more motorcycle friendly road environment. The guidelines build on the Government's motorcycling strategy and demonstrate the role motorcycling can play in an integrated transport system.

Two awards were presented for young driver initiatives.

The first went to the DSA for the development and introduction of a learner driver logbook, the Driver's Record, which is issued free of charge to learner drivers as part of a structured learning process. Around 900,000 copies will be distributed annually.

The second award went to Grampian police for its Driving Ambition event for secondary school and sixth form pupils. The daylong programme covers all aspects of driving and car use.

The education and training award went to Sandwell MBC's young drivers' campaign (see pic at top of page), which 'does not look or feel like a typical road safety campaign'. The campaign is based on a magazine that is distributed to nearly 100,000 young people across the country.

The public education award went to North Lanarkshire's 20's Plenty campaign, which helped increase public acceptability of a blanket 20mph speed limit introduced across residential areas in 2001-2.

The fleet service award went to the London Borough of Havering, where driver training and a programme of continuing training for new drivers are embedded in the borough's culture.  

The engineering and technology award went to Jaguar for introducing the 'pedestrian deployable bonnet' on its XK model - which, on impact, 'pops up' a few inches to increase space between the engine and the bonnet.

The following four international awards were also presented:

The FIA Foundation Seat Belt Tool Kit - a best practice manual that provides seat belt campaigners with information and advice to encourage local action.

Rotary Children's Safety Village - which provides police, fire and medical services, and the Windsor and Essex County boards of education (in Ontario, USA) with an interactive facility to deliver road safety programmes.  

Scania - a commitment to road safety is an integral part of the company's global strategy and brand image. This includes a large-scale commercial driver-training programme, and sponsorship of a major European transport conference where road safety was a central theme.

BP Safer Driving Programme - which also won the overall premier award.

For further information and pictures of the presentation ceremony go to: http://www.roadsafetyawards.com/photos2005/

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