April 2011 Newsletter

Young Driver Consultation

Young Drivers aged 17-25 years were identified as a priority group within Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2020 and a commitment was made to conduct a survey with young people. A company called Atkins, working with Professor Steve Stradling, has recently completed the report on the National Debate on Young Driver Safety which was commissioned by Transport Scotland.

Thanks to all those companies who assisted with this survey.

Young Drivers 2011 Focus

The Scottish Government and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland have agreed to make “Young Drivers” a priority focus for road safety campaigns throughout this coming year (2011-12).

Young Drivers at Work Toolkit

To support the emphasis on Young Drivers, RoSPA Scotland will conduct two one day training sessions on the RoSPA Young Drivers at Work Toolkit. These will be in Edinburgh and Glasgow on 7th and 8th September 2011. Details will follow via the next ScORSA Newsletter.

Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2020 Annual Report

Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2020, Annual Report for 2010 has recently been published and highlights the progress being made in Scotland towards the Road Safety Framework commitments.

Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2020 was launched in June 2009.

Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) Road Policing Campaigns 2010-11

On 28th February 2011 all police forces across Scotland participated in a 24 hour campaign “Mobile Phone Day of Action”. This campaign also included seatbelt use under the Scottish Governments “Year Long Focus on Seatbelts” which ended on 31st March.

Mobile Phone Offences

During this one Day of Action there were 282 drivers charged with driving whilst using their mobile phone. Of that total, 56 were van drivers and 10 were driving LGV’s. Does your company policy cover mobile phone use?

The following incidents of note were recorded:

Dumfries and Galloway

In Dumfries a local man was reported for not being in proper control of his vehicle after being seen by officers to be using a laptop computer which was on his knees whilst driving a van.
A 62 year old male (who is currently on nine penalty points) was reported for using his mobile phone whilst driving a goods vehicle in Dumfries.

Lothian and Borders

A 31-year-old male was stopped in Blackburn, West Lothian, for driving whilst using his mobile phone and not wearing a seatbelt. Enquiry revealed that the vehicle was uninsured. It was subsequently seized under section 165 of the Road Traffic Act and the driver reported to the Procurator Fiscal.
A 36-year-old Hungarian lorry driver was stopped on the M8 motorway in West Lothian for driving his articulated goods vehicle whilst using a mobile phone. He has been reported to the PF.
Traffic Support wardens in Edinburgh observed 48 car drivers, 24 van drivers and two lorry drivers driving their vehicles whilst using a mobile phone. Warning letters are being sent to the registered keepers of the vehicles.

Strathclyde

In Lanarkshire, a bus driver with passengers on board was issued a conditional offer of fixed penalty ticket for driving using a mobile phone.
In Glasgow area, a 57yr old male reported for dangerous carriage of a four year old child who was sitting on the lap of another male adult with the seatbelt pulled over both of them.
In Ayr, a Driver was charged with dangerous driving as he was negotiating a roundabout while using mobile phone.

Seatbelt Offences

Also during the day of action a total of 319 vehicle occupants were caught not wearing a seatbelt. Of that, 115 van occupants were charged for not wearing a seatbelt and 6 LGV occupants were also charged with not wearing a seatbelt.

Since their invention, thousands of lives have been saved on our roads. As we consider people who drive in the course of their work, these offences are alarmingly high. Does your company policy or Driver Handbook mention the importance of wearing a seatbelt?

RoSPA Driving for Work Mobile Phone policy.

RoSPA Seatbelt Policy documents.

ACPOS National Campaigns for 2011-12

The National Campaigns Strategy for 2011/2012 was ratified at the last Road Policing Business Area meeting on 10th February. The strategy has been devised after taking cognisance of the 5 Objectives contained within the Scottish Road Policing Framework, with each of the areas being represented.

There was also a desire to incorporate elements of what ACPO and TISPOL were doing over the same period and the Summer Drink Drug Drive Campaign has been moved to June from its traditional place in July, to align with both the ACPO and TISPOL campaigns.

Upcoming Campaigns include:

Friday 22nd April – Sunday 24th April - Speeding/Country Roads Weekend
Wednesday 11th May - Speeding/Seatbelt Day of Action

On the Move Newsletter from the European Union

The EU has set the target of halving the number of road deaths in the EU by 2020.

The EU strategy to 2020 will aim towards:

Improved safety measures for trucks and cars
Building safer roads
Developing intelligent vehicles
Strengthening licensing and training
Better enforcement
Targeting injuries
A new focus on motorcyclists

United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety

The United Nations has declared 2011-2020 the Decade of Action for Road Safety. The overall aim of the campaign is to ‘stabilise and then reduce the forecast level of road traffic fatalities around the world by increasing activities conducted at nation, regional and global levels.’ If your organisation would like to sign up to this commitment, which would enable you to display and make use of the tag, visit their website.

ScORSA Toolkit Launch 11th May 2011

The ScORSA Toolkit is a new resource for small and medium sized businesses. It has been designed to assist companies with the development of MORR policies and promote road safety and company policy to people who drive in the course of their work. The launch will be in Edinburgh on 11th May, to coincide with the launch of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety. Training dates are currently being arranged on the use of the ScORSA toolkit, there are no costs involved. To note interest please contact 0131 449 9379 or email info@scorsa.org.uk

ScORSA Seminars

A series of seminars will be held across Scotland with the support from SCHWL looking at Occupational Road Risk. The ScORSA toolkit will be promoted at these events. These seminars may include information on moving goods safely, vehicle defects, level crossings and any specific local issues. These seminars will be available free and preferential booking will be offered to ScORSA members.

Freight Best Practice

Scottish businesses have benefitted from wealth of information available within the Freight Best Practice guides which have been compiled after consultation with many large companies sharing ideas of good practice. Some of these guides have RoSPA Scotland and HSE endorsement. Unfortunately, the Scottish Government’s Freight Best Practice programme has closed. The good news is that the programme’s contents will still continue to be available for industry to use. Although the publication order hotline has closed, the publications will still be available to download via Transport Scotland´s website.

Using Level Crossings Safely

A new guide on ‘Using Level Crossings Safely’ has recently been published by the Office of Rail Regulation. It is aimed at road users, not rail users.

Choosing and Fitting Child Car Seats

RoSPA Scotland will again this year provide training for road safety professionals working in Scotland. In addition there are two x 2 hour courses, one in Glasgow and the other in Edinburgh, aimed at professionals with a background in health, education, community, social or child care workers who have responsibility for transporting children. There are no costs involved.

New DfT research reports

Driver tiredness is estimated to be a contributory factor in around 20% of all road accidents. Research has shown that many drivers continue to drive tired despite being aware of their tiredness. Shift workers and commercial vehicle drivers appear to have a higher risk of sleep crashes as a result of a combination of work related-factors. Studies of drivers of light goods vehicles, vans, taxis, buses and company cars suggest that these drivers are also likely to be exposed to a relatively high level of fatigue-related crash risk. Fuller details of this new Department for Transport research are in the report ‘Fatigue and Road Safety: A critical analysis of recent evidence’.

For information on safer journey planning see RoSPA Journey planner.

Cycle Friendly Employer

Longer days and lighter evenings are encouraging people back onto their bikes. With the increased numbers of cyclists comes an increased number of cycling accidents. This is an opportunity to help your staff who cycle to work or for leisure purposes. Cycling Scotland run a scheme for employers to help provide cycle training for staff. This scheme is supported by the Scottish Centre For Healthy Working Lives.

Westminster Government crackdown on drink and drug driving

A package of measures to tackle drink and drug driving was announced recently by Transport Secretary Philip Hammond.
Improved testing equipment to detect drink and drug drivers will be given the green light and key changes made to streamline enforcement of both offences.

The Westminster Government will also examine the case for a new specific drug driving offence – alongside the existing one – which would remove the need for the police to prove impairment on a case-by-case basis where a specified drug has been detected.

The measures are set out in the Government’s response to the North Report on Drink and Drug Driving, which was published last year.

The prescribed alcohol limit for driving will not be changed, with the focus instead on improving enforcement and education to tackle the drink and drug drivers who put lives at risk.

Meanwhile in Scotland, the Scotland Bill is currently being progressed which will devolve powers to Scotland to include powers to set its own alcohol limits. The Scottish Government is supportive of lowering the drink drive limit from 80 mg to 50 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, despite the disappointing decision of the Westminster Government. Currently in Scotland with regard to enforcement, ACPOS has run the vehicle forfeiture scheme for repeat drink drug drive offenders.

The effects of Electronic Stability Control (ESC) on crashes—An update

The present study is an update of the meta-analysis by Erke (Erke, A., 2008. Effects of Electronic Stability Control (ESC) on accidents: a review of empirical evidence. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 40 (1), 167–173). Results from 12 studies of the effects of Electronic Stability Control (ESC) on the number of different types of crashes were summarized by means of meta-analysis. The results indicate that ESC prevents about 40% of all crashes involving loss of control. The greatest reductions were found for rollover crashes (−50%), followed by run-off-road (−40%) and single vehicle crashes (−25%). These results are however likely to be somewhat overestimated, especially for non-fatal crashes. Multiple vehicle crashes were found to be largely unchanged. Reductions were found for some types of multiple vehicle crashes. Rear-end collisions are unchanged or may increase. Fatal crashes involving pedestrians, bicycles or animals were found to increase as well. ESC was found to be more effective in preventing fatal crashes than non-fatal crashes. ESC is often found to be more effective in Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) than in passenger cars. This may be due to differences between drivers of SUVs and passenger cars. The results from meta-analysis indicate that drivers of ESC-equipped vehicles are likely to be safer drivers than other drivers. All the same, ESC may lead to behavioural adaptation in some cases, but it is not likely that behavioural adaptation offsets the positive safety effects. This may be due to a lack of knowledge about ESC.