Meeting minutes - Road Safety Framework Local Partnership Forum - West - 21 March 2022
Attendees
- Lorraine Forrester (LF) Transport Scotland (Chair)
- Michelle Little (ML) Transport Scotland
- Ben McKenna (BM) Transport Scotland
- Kieren Green (KG) Transport Scotland
- Hannah Wood (HW) Transport Scotland
- Steven Feeney (SF) Transport Scotland
- Hannah Green (HG) Transport Scotland
- Caroline Hay (CH) Road Safety Scotland – Education Adviser
- Graeme Mclay (GM) East Dunbartonshire Council
- Colin Smith (CS) South Lanarkshire Council
- Tony Topping (TT) Network Strategy & Road Safety / Dumfries and Galloway Road Safety Partnership
- Karen McDonnell (KM) RoSPA
- Lorraine Napier (LN) Police Scotland
- Ian Anderson (IA) Dumfries & Galloway, Fire Scotland / Dumfries and Galloway Road Safety Partnership
- Fiona Cameron (FC) North Ayrshire Council
- George Cairns (GC) Glasgow City Council
- Alan Bowater (AB) Safety Camera Unit Manager, Police Scotland
- Jamie Blythe (JB) BRAKE
- Daniel Hainey (DH) South Ayrshire Council and Ayrshire Roads Alliance
Apologies
- Kerr Chalmers (KC) South Ayrshire Council and Ayrshire Roads Alliance
- Lynsey McBurnie (LM) Ayrshire Council and Ayrshire Roads Alliance
- Ross McDowell (RM) East Renfrewshire Council
- William Rice (WR) Inverclyde Council
- Caroline Tonner (CT) West Dunbartonshire Council
- Eileen Bell (EB) Inverclyde Council
- Graeme Senior (GS) Ayrshire Roads Alliance
- Jennifer Carroll (JC) Neilston Development Trust
Welcome and Introductions
The Chair welcomed the group noting that KC will be retiring, therefore no longer attending the LPF West and thanked KC for his contribution at the first meeting.
The chair advised that Jenny Gilruth has been appointed Minister for Transport, before proceeding with membership introductions.
Action points from previous meeting - 22 November 2021
The Chair reviewed outstanding actions, inviting KM to update attendees on the Quad Bike Stakeholder Network Meeting and noting Action Point 4 is ongoing and will be included on a future agenda.
Terms of Reference (ToR)
The Chair thanked members that had accepted the ToR and asked anyone that hadn’t to please confirm their acceptance by email.
Action Point 8: Members that have not accepted the ToR and membership by email are to respond to the Chair.
Owner: All
Scotland’s Road Safety Week
The Chair highlighted that Scotland’s Road Safety week is running from Monday 21 March - 27 March noting that a link to the agenda and promotional material was shared with the information sent out for the meeting.
BRAKE presentation
The presentation made by JB including the following information:
- A brief word about Brake the Charity
- Brake’s National Road Victim Service (NRVS) which has the aim to work towards better outcomes for road crash victims who have been bereaved or catastrophically injured
- NRVS Funding
- The aim of Brake’s NRVS Service
- Who Brake helps
- How Brake helps
JB went on to explain that The Scotland Serious Injury Guide is in the final stages of consultation prior to printing and will soon be ready to distribute and detailed that the following information would be included in the guide:
- What happens now?
- At the hospital
- Seeking expert legal help
- Vehicles, insurance and visiting the crash site
- Media attention
- Rehabilitation and disabilities
- Coping with shock and emotions and accessing support
- The police investigation
- The decision to bring a prosecution or not
- Court cases, verdicts and restorative justice
- If the crash happened abroad
- Claiming for financial support
- Campaigning and useful organisations
The Chair thanked JB and invited members to ask any questions.
IA asked if Brake offer caseworkers or support for large groups such as schools who have experienced a bereavement within their community.
JB explained that funding is to be confirmed in Scotland, however they hope to be able to expand and have local case workers available in Scotland in future as opposed to the remote service that is currently offered. This would allow caseworkers to go into schools and provide guidance to teachers.
Action Point 9: Distribute link to YouTube video which explains more about the NRVS.
Owner: Lorraine Forrester
HADECS Camera System (M90)
SF began by explaining that steps are being put in place to encourage an enhanced level of speed compliance on a section of the M90, across the Queensferry Crossing.
SF noted that although this is in the East, this section of the network has an importance Nationally as it acts as a gateway to a large proportion of Scotland’s travel, including the LPF West areas.
The sites have been in place for a number of years, however has not operated in live enforcement mode primarily due to a range of technical issues which impact data reliability. Following a period of robust testing and working with partners, the systems are expected to go live in May 2022.
The Chair asked for the history of HADECS in relation to casualty reduction.
SF highlighted that this is a first for Scotland and explained that robust research has been completed to understand driver behaviour over this stretch of road. The camera system will act to encourage an improved level of driver behaviour leading to speed limit compliance.
A key element is communications. There is a national level four week campaign that will be rolled out. The campaign will be two weeks prior to operations commencing and two weeks after on a mix of social and radio channels.
The Chair thanked SF and invited attendees to ask any questions.
GM asked for more information in relation to enforcement.
SF explained that it will operate the same as other areas in Scotland and offences would be processed by the East Safety Camera Unit.
LGVs and gig economy
The Chair suggested that a log be created of the 20 discussion points highlighted at the previous meeting. This will allow for an audit trail for themed discussions as each point is discussed which can be sent out after each meeting along with the minutes. The group agreed with this approach.
Action Point 10: Themed Discussion log to be sent to group along with the minutes.
Owner: Lorraine Forrester
The Chair went on to introduce the first discussion point, Light Good Vehicles (LGV) and the gig economy. The Chair invited attendees to bring any questions or thoughts to the group highlighting impacts on society as a whole including road safety and driver safety.
KM noted that ScORSA are currently completing research with regards to LGVs and the impact of the pandemic. This is also on the agenda for the May ScORSA Webinar.
The Chair invited LN to join the discussion with regards to an increase in speeding. LN noted, in general, there has been a slight increase relating to speed.
IA echoed LN noting that there hasn’t been a link highlighted between collisions and LGVs.
General personal responsibility and how to get this over to the general public
The Chair highlighted that this is vital especially around the National Conversation, the new Road Safety Framework and changes to the Highway Code and how we can encourage personal responsibility.
AT noted that due to the pandemic there has been a big increase of pedestrians and cyclists, highlighting that there has been an increase of requests for active travel structures and noted that they often have to respond to advise that there is not always the budget or space to accommodate. They also encourage recipients to take personal responsibility for their own actions and how they choose to travel.
AT went on to highlight the importance of schools and parents educating young children on road safety and their responsibility from a young age.
CH noted that it is important the children and young people are getting appropriate road safety messaging at key points throughout their journey to becoming independent road users. All learning resources at Road Safety Scotland are fully aligned to the Curriculum for Excellence and they ensure that themes are appropriate for the age of the children participating.
CH invited attendees to get in touch with Road Safety Scotland if they have any questions of concerns with regards to road safety education in their area.
KM echoed CH points and highlighted the importance of getting the simple things right and this falls on individuals. ScORSA also have a kit that they encourage work places to use to ensure that the ‘fatal four’ don’t apply when they are at work and this will hopefully follow through to when employees are out of work.
The Chair invited members to join the discussion on potential barriers in understanding on how this message can be portrayed to the wider public.
FC highlighted that appropriate ways of messaging will be dependent on age groups and there is not one size fits all.
GC noted that Glasgow have a road safety team that can go into schools and speak to children, this usual includes Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. This helps build relationships with schools and ensure that Road Safety Education is delivered. There are also different campaigns running throughout the year to target different road users.
GC added a link in the chat to Glasgow’s Road Safety Plan for members to view.
KM echoed GC and added that we have to put our people at the heart of decision making.
IA noted that the Road Safety Partnership have quite a few campaigns, however added that it is primarily the partnership pushing this education in schools and it would be nice to see more emphasis from a National level to encourage schools to engage with Road Safety Partners.
LN highlighted the New Driver Early Intervention Scheme and explained this in more detail to attendees noting that this looks at behaviours and peer pressure.
CS added that they are looking at residential speeding campaigns and are considering how they tackle issues and get people to think about their own attitudes towards driving. It would be useful to have some National messaging that focuses on individuals thoughts and feelings behind their driving and personal responsibility.
Action Point 11: Investigate what could be done at a National level to encourage partnerships between schools and other partners at a local level.
Owner: Lorraine Forrester
Action Point 12: Review National messaging that could encourage personal responsibility.
Owner: Lorraine Forrester
E-Scooters
The Chair began by noting that the weather may contribute to the low numbers of e-scooters, however there are still a number being used.
LN noted that they would not deal with incidents when there is no serious or life threatening injury involved, however echoed that this is likely something that will increase over time.
GM added that BBC recently completed an e-scooter trial on the Isle of Wight and shared the link.
IA highlighted the risks of charging e-scooters and the result of house fires.
Action Point 13: Investigate if there are any statistics for incidents involving e-scooters to present at the next meeting.
Owner: Lorraine Napier
Partner updates
The Chair advised that partners will be asked to provide a paper with an update prior to the meeting for partners to review in order to allow time for more discussion at the meeting. Attendees added their top two highlights to update the group.
Action Point 14: Partners to provide an update paper to be added to the papers ahead of the next meeting.
Owner: All
Road Safety Framework Delivery Plan
The Chair updated that the second delivery plan is in the process of being drafted and it will be in 2 parts, immediate actions and long term deliverables. Stakeholders will have the opportunity to review the draft when it is completed.
The SPB were updated on progress of deliverables in the first delivery plan and there were no outstanding actions or concerns raised.
Road Safety Framework Improvement Fund
The Road Safety Improvement Fund is still progressing and in February an increase of budget was confirmed. Discussions are ongoing about what this budget will translate into including the consideration of a Road Safety Improvement Fund.
Road Safety Framework Fund
HW informed the group that the Framework fund closed for bids at midnight on 7 March 2022 and that there had been a total of 13 applications received.
The Road Safety Policy team are in the process of reviewing applications before they are sent to the Operational Partnership Group to make a decision on funding.
Road Safety Scotland update education and activity
CH provided a top level update, noting that a paper will be shared which includes more detail. The top level update included:
- The new learning resource, Roadstars which will now be the main primary school resource.
- Road Safety Scotland are working with Judy Black to provide Road Safety education resource for children and young people with additional support needs.
- The Road Safety Scotland website is being rebuild and refreshed. First drafts of the site are now available.
- Road Safety Scotland will be reviewing Your Call, Crash Magnets learning resources as well as the existing Junior Road Safety Officer programme.
- Current campaigns such as Drive Like Gran’s in the Car, Live Fast Die Old, Seatbelts campaign and Speeding.
- ‘In Case of Emergency’ Cards.
Action Point 15: Full update paper to be issued to members along with the minutes.
Owner: Lorraine Forrester
AOB
The date of the next meeting will be in September. The Chair will be in touch with members to arrange this. This will be a hybrid meeting and members can decide what is most suitable to them.
The Chair advised that the Chair of the group will now be shared and suggested going in alphabetical order of council area with secretariat support provided from Transport Scotland. There were no objections to this.
Action Point 16: Current Chair to get in touch with future chair in advance of next meeting to advise of the role.
Owner: Lorraine Forrester