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ROADSAFE NEWS MAY 2006 COMMENT
With the Bank Holiday looming it is heartening to read that West Yorkshire’s unique and ambitious casualty reduction initiative, Safer Roads Day on May 1st produced NO FATALITIES, on a day when statistically there are usually at least one and often two deaths on the road
ONLY ONE crash that caused 2 serious injuries, when there between six and eight serious injuries usually occur.
Organisers West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership says the ZERO road deaths is particularly welcome, but it’s unfortunate that two people sustained injuries in the road crash… especially as it came after more than 18 hours incident free out of the 24.
From one minute past midnight on Bank Holiday Monday, right though to 6pm, the roads of West Yorkshire were incident-free, barring four minor shunts, which didn’t cause injury.
http://www.safetycameraswestyorkshire.co.uk
The Holiday Weekend is also a time when we see additional motorcyclists on our roads. RoadSafe welcomes the renewed effort by the police across the country working in close conjunction with bikers.
BikeSafe is an initiative run by Police Forces around the United Kingdom who work with the whole of the biking world to help to lower the number of motorcycle rider casualties.
By passing on their knowledge, skills and experience, police motorcyclists can help you become a safer more competent rider. http://www.bikesafe.co.uk
There has again been much debate about speed cameras. RoadSafe is particularly pleased that The Department for Transport has agreed to amend the rules relating to signing – the revised rules will allow for repeater signs to be placed close to cameras sites and for additional roundels to be painted on the roads in 30MPH areas to remind drivers what the speed limit is.
A full report on the revised signing rules will be given in our next edition.
‘EDUCATION AND ENFORCEMENT: HOW CAN LOCAL AUTHORITIES IMPROVE ROAD SAFETY?’
RoadSafe will be participating in The Westminster Briefings on 20 June aimed at providing a forum for practitioners, local policymakers and civil servants to debate key issues with leading figures from within Westminster , Whitehall and Local Government.
Please come along: details at: http://www.westminster-briefing.com/events/Education_and_Enforcement.htm
''INTELLIGENT CARS'' THAT CALL EMERGENCY SERVICES COULD SAVE LIVES FROM 2009
The European Parliament has adopted the report by Gary TITLEY (PES, UK) on the introduction of the eCall system by a large majority.
Most speakers in the debate warmly welcomed the introduction by 2009 of an eCall system installed in vehicles which would use satellite technology to alert the nearest emergency services to the exact location of a vehicle in the event of an accident and which could save up to 2,500 lives a year.
http://www.europarl.eu.int/news/expert/infopress_page/062-7652-116-04-17-910-20060421IPR07491-26-04-2006-2006-true/default_en.htm
CAR DRIVERS FEEL SAFEST BEHIND THE WHEEL THAN ON OTHER MODES OF TRANSPORT
A study compiled by Brake and Green Flag shows that drivers felt safer behind the wheel than as a passenger on a train, plane or ferry – despite actually being aware that these alternative modes of transport are much less likely to end in disaster than a car journey.
However most respondents ranked being a passenger in a car as one of the modes of transport that made them feel least safe.
http://www.brake.org.uk/index.php?p=461
DFT RESEARCH REPORT – EFFECTIVE INTERVENTIONS FOR SPEEDING MOTORISTS
Now available on:
http://www.dft.gov .uk/stellent/groups/dft_rdsafety/documents/page/dft_rdsafety_611335.pdf
COMMISSION FOR GLOBAL ROAD SAFETY
RoadSafe will be supporting the campaign MAKE ROADS SAFE - to be announced by The Commission for Global Road Safety when it launches its first report on June 8th in Central London.
http://www.fiafoundation.com/commissionforglobalroadsafety/index.html
ROAD SAFETY BILL
News on the progress of the bill and other parliamentary information is available on:
http://www.pacts.org.uk/
RoSPA
RoSPA provides information, education, training and publicity resources and services for road users and road safety professionals.
http://www.rospa.com/roadsafety/index.htm
EURORAP - ROAD SAFETY CRIPPLED BY DOGMA
The new EuroRAP roads safety report published today indicates substantial failures by authorities to improve road safety through proper engineering.
There are two main forces driving the failure:
- Lack of investment due to 'anti-road policies'
- Wrong solutions due to poor understanding of the nature of road safety
Paul Smith, of the Safe Speed road safety campaign (www.safespeed.org.uk) said: "Clearly the government and local authorities do not fully appreciate the nature of their road safety responsibilities. We have seen vast amounts of money spent on cameras and reduced speed limits when proper engineering treatments would have been far more effective."
"These wrong policies may make some roads safer, but they also make drivers worse and the overall effect is bad enough to swamp the substantial benefits arising from improved vehicle safety."
"National road safety policy is driven by politics and dogma when it should be driven by science and understanding. The real foundation of road safety is road user psychology and we won't get road safety back on track until this is understood and properly factored in."
New EuroRAP document: http://217.174.251.13/library/pdfs/20060526_UK_risk_map_results.pdf
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