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PostPosted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 20:44 
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The Future of Road Safety: Creating Safer Drivers and Safer Roads
Wednesday 20th June 2012, Central London, 09:00 - 16:20

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Overview
In May 2011, the Department for Transport published the Strategic Framework for Road Safety. The report outlines the government’s strategies for improving road safety in the UK and shows a commitment to education and empowering local communities. It has been a year since the report was first published, and road safety continues to be a top priority for both central government and local authorities.

However, road related deaths are still prevalent in the UK, being the leading cause of death amongst young adults and costing the economy around £3 billion annually. With the UK’s roads becoming increasingly busy improving road safety is of extreme importance.

Working in partnership with local authorities, the government is committed to reducing the number of accidents on UK roads by 37% in 2020. The National Infrastructure Plan committed over £10 billion for maintenance and investment in key road and local transport schemes, and a further £1.4bn has been committed to fund new strategic road schemes leading up to 2015.

In addition, from January 2012 the driving theory test no longer uses pre-published questions in a push to stop candidates from learning answers by rote. These changes will mean that learner drivers and riders gain a better understanding of driving theory in an attempt to reduce accidents and improve the safety of UK roads.

Agenda
A year on from the publication of the Strategic Framework for Road Safety (May 2011) this timely forum will allow delegates to discuss how to improve road safety and reduce accidents. Sessions will include how to tackle drink and drug driving, ways to support older drivers, working in partnership to increase road safety and developing safer attitudes amongst children and young people. The forum will include presentations from leading policy makers, and will include best practice case studies from leading local authorities.
09:00 Registration and Coffee
09:40 Chair’s Welcome Address - Honor Blyford, Vice Chair, Road Safety GB (CONFIRMED)
09:50 - Morning Keynote: The Strategic Framework for Road Safety - One Year On
The Strategic Framework for Road Safety: How has the implementation progressed?
The impact of the Road Safety Partnership Grant Programme
Raising the speed limit on motorways
Localism: Encouraging communities to take control of road safety
Improving road safety at a time of financial constraint
Creating a tougher enforcement system to tackle dangerous driving
Road safety: Emphasising the need for improved education
Lisa Gilmour, Head of Road Safety Knowledge and Information Policy, Department for Transport (CONFIRMED)

10:10 - Special Keynote: Improving and Maintaining the UK's Roads and Motorways
The Strategic Framework for Road Safety: The importance of continuing to improve and maintain the UK's roads
Ensuring a cost effective and efficient service through the Highways Maintenance Efficiency Programme
£10 billion for maintenance and investment in key road and local transport schemes
Future investment in construction and repairs
How to improve the UK's most dangerous roads?
Planning ahead: Working with transport, government, local authorities, industry and local communities to improve operation and business planning
Peter Adams, Major Projects Director, Highways Agency (invited)

10:30 - Case Study: Buckinghamshire County Council - Saving Lives, Saving Money
The need for funding: Transforming one of Britain's most dangerous roads into one of the safest
The Strategic Framework for Road Safety: Improvements in funding avenues
Meeting government targets through investment in road safety
The impact of funding reductions on road safety
Finding alternative funding avenues
Pooling resources: Ensuring local authorities work together to save money and improve road safety
The impact of the Road Safety Partnership Grant Programme
Saving the UK £50 million annually through implementing simple measures
Jim Stevens, Cabinet Member for Planning and Transport, Buckinghamshire County Council (invited)

10:50 Questions and Answers Session
11:10 Coffee Break and Networking

11:30 - Case Study: Working in Partnership to Heighten Road Safety
Encouraging local citizens and service providers to improve road safety: Strategies to meet casualty reduction targets
Empowering communities to take more control over the wider issues such as criminality and lack of youth services which can also add to road safety
The importance of community road watch schemes
Collaborating with education services, health services and the emergency services to deliver optimum road safety
Ensuring a high level of local service coordination
Creating a cost effective service through the sharing of resources such as data and educational software
Developing an increasingly transparent system through publishing data that could help other services tackle the challenges present
The importance of the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector in promoting the importance of safety and supporting the victims of accidents
Mike Harris, Partnership Manager, Humber Safer Road Partnership (invited)

11:50 - Overcoming the Rural Road Roulette
Ensuring road safety in rural areas of the UK
Securing investment for rural road management and maintenance
Developing a national framework for all roads so that neighbouring councils can work together coherently
Ensuring better guidance to end ‘speed limit lotteries’ where drivers are confused by widely varying speed limits between neighbouring councils
Avoiding equestrian accidents on rural roads
Improving rural road safety in times of adverse weather
Speaker to be confirmed

12:10 - Case Study: Using Innovative Technology to Cut Causalities and Collisions
Improving safety on the roads in Sheffield by providing road safety schemes across the city
Giving priority to treating roads with a poor accident history, whether these are junctions, lengths of road, or whole areas
Using traffic calming measures, such as signs that display vehicle speeds, SIDs and VASs
Reducing the speed limit through ‘light-touch’ engineering measures, such as building out the footpaths to form a weaving effect for drivers
The ‘Worst Fit’ Joint Venture across South Yorkshire
Securing funding for new technologies to improve road safety
Working together to counter adverse weather conditions: The success of ‘Snow Wardens’
The impact of innovative technology on meeting casualty reduction targets
John Bann, Head of Transport and Highways, Sheffield City Council (CONFIRMED)

12:30 Questions and Answers Session
12:50 Lunch and Networking
13:50 - Increasing Advice, Choices and Training Avenues for Older Drivers
The impact of an ageing society on road safety
Supporting the 1 million drivers over the age of 80 in the UK
Encouraging older drivers to maintain and adapt their skills to ensure continuing safe mobility as they age
Is mandatory re-testing a good idea?
Helping ageing drivers to retrain their skills
Working with community groups and the voluntary sector to develop local training schemes for older drivers
Technological innovation to ensure easier access for all drivers
Modernising the driver training industry: Providing training fit for 21st century drivers
Naomi Baster, Policy and Research Officer, Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) (CONFIRMED)

14:10 - Case Study: Developing Safer Attitudes and Skills Amongst Children and Young People
Improving road safety education for all children and teenagers
Encouraging children and young people to participate in the cycle proficiency schemes
Working with schools to develop safer attitudes
Encouraging safer skills amongst all ages
The success of the THINK! campaign on reducing causalities and deaths amongst children and young people
Footsteps: Involving children aged between two and seven in the decision making process of crossing the road
Raising the number of road safety volunteers in your local community
Andrea Johnson, Senior Road Safety Project Leader, Road Safety Education Team, Birmingham City Council (CONFIRMED)

14:30 - Tackling Drink and Drug Driving
The work of Brake in tackling drink and drug driving and promoting awareness of the dangers
Learning from the success of the government’s anti drink-driving campaign: Educating the public on the dangers of drug driving
Cutting the number of accidents and causalities that arise through drink or drug driving
Giving the police the means to identify drug-drivers easily including the power to ask for evidential samples for testing
Streamlining the enforcement process for drink and drug driving to relieve pressure on police and other enforcement resources and enable them to be more effectively targeted
Working within the local communities to inform their citizens of the dangers surrounding drug or drink driving
Impact of the Transport Select Committee’s report on Drink and Drug Driving
Julie Townsend, Deputy Chief Executive, Brake (CONFIRMED)

14:50 Questions and Answers Session
15:10 Coffee and Networking

15:30 - Improving Occupational Road Safety
Reducing the number of work related deaths and injuries which currently stands at one third
Working with industry to increase training and raise road safety standards
Connecting business with all communities in the UK
Guaranteeing that employers understand the responsibility they have towards their drivers
Reducing the number of accidents that involve foreign lorries on UK roads
Improving occupational driver training
Simon Best, Chief Executive, Institute of Advanced Motorists (invited)

15:50 - Closing Keynote: Creating Safer Cities for Pedestrians and Cyclists
London 2012 Olympics: Increasing safety at times of congestion
Improving road safety for both pedestrians and cyclists
Tackling "inattention blindness" - one of the key collision causes
The ‘Don’t See Look’ campaign: How awareness of cyclists can be improved
Guaranteeing that the growth of cycling in London and the UK is accompanied by a reduced rate of cycling casualties
Working together to meet casualty reduction targets
The impact of London’s Cycle Safety Action Plan: How this can be implemented in alternative areas
Lilli Matson, Head of Delivery Planning, Transport for London (CONFIRMED)

16:10 Questions and Answers Session
16:30 Chair's Summary
16:40 Close

*Programme subject to change without notice

Audience
Delegates will include senior government officials, directors of transport, road safety managers, transport coordinators, highways managers, senior engineers, chief executives of transport research organisations, headteachers and will be drawn from central government, local authorities, highways agencies, charities, and emergency services.
PUBLIC/THIRD SECTOR CONCESSIONS

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PostPosted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 23:19 
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Firstly "empowering local communities", if Hampshire is anything to go by, has resulted in speed limits that for most of the time are not relative to road conditions. When you get roads with low density large houses set well back from the road or roads with predominantly fields each side, I would suggest that for the majority of the time 30 mph is not a reasonable speed, seeing that most of these were national speed limits not so long ago. Further much of the so called traffic calming measures, that have become the fashion, create a more hazardous condition than existed than before they were in place.

During the last week it has been reported that the Local Authority is trying to find ways of enforcing the 40mph speed limit in the New Forest due to the number of ponies still being killed. I would suggest that is is not speed in itself that is the problem, but people not recognising that a pony by the side of the road my step out and if it does, then 40mph is likely to be far too fast. I have followed cars keeping spot on 40mph but then pass at this speed within inches of a pony by the side of the road. So how has the 40mph limit helped? Equally much of the Forest is open plains where generally there are good sight lines, if a pony is by the side of the road 40mph will be too fast and the true safe speed will be determined on how far you can distance your vehicle from the pony. If there are no ponies what has the 40mph limit achieved?

The best way of getting safe roads is to get ALL road users to start thinking about what they are doing and start taking responsibility for their own actions.

If they want safer roads, then just follow the approach, as very eloquently explained in Stephen Haley's book, Mind Driving.


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PostPosted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 09:24 
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I see BRAKE is having it's own "Speed Congress" in June..... http://speedcongress.wordpress.com/

A free knitting pattern will no doubt be handed out to all attending.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.


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PostPosted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 21:13 
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graball wrote:
I see BRAKE is having it's own "Speed Congress" in June..... http://speedcongress.wordpress.com/

A free knitting pattern will no doubt be handed out to all attending.

In the same vein, I'd suggest that they hand out "curlie wurlies" .This will result in either "gobsglued " speakers ,or them being incoherent due to loss of teeth .Either way it'll do a lot for more road safety than their usual policies . :D

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 23:36 
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whynot wrote:
Firstly "empowering local communities", ....When you get roads with low density large houses set well back from the road or roads with predominantly fields each side, I would suggest that for the majority of the time 30 mph is not a reasonable speed, seeing that most of these were national speed limits not so long ago. Further much of the so called traffic calming measures, that have become the fashion, create a more hazardous condition than existed than before they were in place.
checking the current speeds to the 85th%ile (although there perhaps needs to be some due consideration for rigid 'sticking to the limit paranoia'), and then genuine consultation with good quality road engineers (to see if improvements can be made to roads too), and then proper consideration as to the appropriate speed.
whynot wrote:
During the last week it has been reported that the Local Authority is trying to find ways of enforcing the 40mph speed limit in the New Forest due to the number of ponies still being killed. ...
Agreed totally they would be far better to remind people about the dangers of horses and their unpredictable behaviour. The danger of complacency also needs to be promoted. Foals are especially vulnerable, although the adult experienced horses whilst having having 'learned' how to cope with the vehicles does not make them any less predictable! The 40mph will net necessarily make people avoid the horses if they pay less attention from the false sense of safety created by the lower 40mph limit!
whynot wrote:
The best way of getting safe roads is to get ALL road users to start thinking about what they are doing and start taking responsibility for their own actions.
It is getting motorists to continuously (or as much as possible)remember to think about everything that is going on on the road ahead and all about them. The french use a systems of 'rappals' (?sp) and that might be as simple as a warning or speed sign. We now have so many signs theymay now be providing a negative than positive effect.
whynot wrote:
If they want safer roads, then just follow the approach, as very eloquently explained in Stephen Haley's book, Mind Driving.
Ah yes indeed, Paul had a lot of input to the book ...

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