Road Safety Framework - Operational Partnership Group (OPG) - meeting minutes - 25 August 2022

Members

  • George Henry (GH) (Chair) - Transport Scotland Road Safety Policy and Education
  • Michelle Little (ML) - Transport Scotland Road Safety Policy
  • Steven Feeney (SF) - Transport Scotland Safety Camera Programme
  • Michael McDonnell (MM) - Road Safety Scotland
  • Keith Irving (KI) - Cycling Scotland
  • Neil Greig (NG) - IAM RoadSmart
  • Stuart Hay (SH) - Living Streets Scotland
  • Karen McDonnell (KM) - RoSPA
  • Niall MacLennan (NM) - Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

In Attendance

  • Andrew Patterson (AP) -Transport Scotland Statistics
  • Karen Furey (KF) - Transport Scotland Sustainable and Active Travel
  • Paul Sloan (PS) - Transport Scotland Strategy and Analysis
  • Hannah Wood (HW) - Transport Scotland Road Safety Policy
  • Caroline Brearley (CB) - Scottish Ambulance Service
  • Stewart Mackie (SM) - Police Scotland

Secretariat

  • Kieren Green (KG) Transport Scotland Road Safety Policy
  • Ben McKenna (BM) Transport Scotland Road Safety Policy

Apologies

  • Fay McNicol (FM) - Scottish Ambulance Service
  • Louise Blakelock (LB) - Police Scotland
  • Helene Mauchlen (HM) - British Horse Society
  • Steve Wykes (SWy) - Motorcycle Action Group
  • Nina Day (ND) - Health and Safety Executive
  • Dave Shea (DS) - Scottish Community Safety Network
  • Stuart Wilson (SW) - Transport Scotland Safety and Development
  • Alistair Ross (AR) - ABI
  • Gordon Brown (GB) - SCOTS
  • Jill Mullholland (JM) - Transport Scotland Sustainable and Active Travel
  • Louise Moules (LM) - Road Haulage Association

Welcome and Introductions

The Chair welcomed the Operational Partnership Group (OPG) members to the meeting, and proceeded with round the table introductions.

Previous Minute and Actions

The minutes of the previous meeting, 24 February 2022 were agreed as an accurate record of discussion, all actions stemming from the last OPG meeting have been completed.

Updates from the Governance Groups

Activity Reports from Strategic Partnership Board (SPB) and Local Partnership Forum (LPF)

The SPB met on 29 June 2022 and once the Board has agreed the minutes these will be circulated to the OPG.

The Chair advised members that SCOTS now have representation at the SPB.

The next SPB meeting is scheduled for January but there are discussions to have another meeting late autumn/early winter, while keeping the January meeting in the calendar.

SPB members requested they would like to see activity reports from the three LPFs feed into the OPG. This will then be discussed and fed back to SPB via OPG Chair.

Issues Raised/Strategic Direction and OPG Membership

Member’s views were sought on how they think the OPG is running and if we should consider any new members to the group, advising that recent discussions have taken place with; Public Health Scotland, Scottish Ambulance Service and Education Scotland on their involvement in road safety and becoming a member of the OPG, as previously suggested by current members.

Members advised they are happy with the running of the group currently, however, it was highlighted it would be good to see smaller groups/discussions take place, such as a meeting focused on deprivation stats.

PS agreed with having representation from Public Health Scotland as road safety should be seen as a public health issue and their interest and connections will be beneficial. Highlighting he attends a Public Health Scotland Transport Systems Recovery Group.

Action Point 1

Secretariat to circulate link to SPB minutes once approved by the Board.

Action Point 2

LPF chairs and OPG chair/secretariat to create an activity report for their respective meetings and send to SPB.

Action Point 3

Chair to have a discussion with PS on the Public Health Scotland group that he attends to gauge the involvement on road safety.

Knowledge, Data and Training

Police Management Information Data

SM provided the latest management information data, highlighting that Police Scotland are continuing to monitor the analytical data to identify trends in activity. Police Scotland have established a national partnership group which is currently being led by CI Andy Barclay. This group are focussing on developing strategies to reduce casualties among this VRU group. The group will also seek to raise the profile of this work perhaps under a wider national partnership. At present themes the group are working on are emerging challenges such as casualties, vulnerability, fitness to drive etc.

KM raised the point on fitness to drive advising that it’s a conversation we need to have within road safety and health. Ayrshire Road Safety Alliance held a drop in session on older road users that was beneficial noting the support mechanisms can be utilised to support those who are no longer able to drive.

ML queried the progress on Driver Engagement North, which is funded through the Road Safety Framework Fund and if we are any closer to receiving the end evaluation, noting that if positive, it has been agreed to fund an additional simulator.

No formal evaluation has yet been received, with some anecdotal evidence that this is positive, however SM will provide a further update on when this is likely to be received.

RSS have also worked in conjunction with Police Scotland, NHS Grampian and Age Scotland to produce two leaflets on older road users.

NG highlighted that England has a network of Mobility Advice Centres and this process differs in Scotland where there is only one centre.

SM replied that this is something that has been raised.  The issue requires further partnership support.  Members of the Older road user group and Police Scotland are seeking to have increased NHS buy into this group. NHS have a big part to play in this work.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service are looking to develop their older driver educational resources, hopefully through a virtual reality capability.  The ICE House organisation who are a leader on development on road safety VR scenarios are in the early stages of developing an older driver VR scenario.  NM will look to keep members up to date on progress of this.

NM also noted concerns around foreign drivers, and the possible increase in collision in high tourist areas.

SM advised that Police Scotland are running the Drive On the Left Campaign in partnership with RSS, working with hire car and ferry companies.

Transport Scotland and local authorities have also worked to increase visible signage and road markings to remind tourists on which side of the road to drive.

Targets, Mode and Users, Intermediate Measures/KPIs

AP shared the current casualty stats showing that 2021 figures are broadly similar to 2020, with total casualties down by 24 on the previous year. We are currently at a record low for fatalities and total casualties, however, noted that the pandemic and road movements is likely to have assisted in this reduction.

An update on each of the indicators, the progress towards the 2030 casualty reduction targets, intermediate outcome targets and KPI’s was provided.

AP also provided an update on the Speed Indicator Data, advising that automated reports are currently in development with a contractor with the first draft of the report ready to be issued imminently. The data presented to members shows speed limit data from 20mph – 70mph and covers 1st July 2021 to 31st May 2022.

The group noted that:

  • Cars/small vans were most likely to speed in 20 mph and 30 mph locations, with bus being least likely to speed in a 20 mph and 30 mph having better speed compliance than 20 mph
  • Motorcycles are the most likely to speed within 40 and 50 mph limit areas
  • Artic HGVs most likely to speed within 60 mph limits with cars/small vans being least likely

KI queried the adjustments made to the Interim Outcome Targets, suggesting that we may need to review these in a Mid-Term Review as they are not as ambitious as others in the framework.

AP commented that he doesn’t believe that the current success is down to the adjustments, but supported a Mid-term Review, where necessary.

SH questioned the other factors that could make an impact on stats, raising the increase in fuel prices may have an impact.

Deprivation and Road Casualties

Transport Analytical Services undertook a more detailed analysis of road casualty statistics to understand the relationship between deprivation and road casualties. All data discussed relate to the year 2019 and is part of the Stats19 dataset.

Pedestrians were the second largest casualty group on our roads, with car casualties being the first. The Stats team pulled together the information on pedestrians and provided the Analytical team with a breakdown of number of casualties by SIMD area per type of injury (killed, seriously injured, slightly injured), time of day when the accident occurred, gender of the casualty, and whether they were children or adults.

Overall, the data does not portray a clear and one-directional picture. While it is evident that the total number of pedestrian casualties involved in accidents in deprived areas is higher than in less deprived areas, this is not always consistent between deprivation deciles.

  • In absolute values, the number of casualties in more deprived 50% areas is almost double that in less deprived 50%, but there are fluctuations across SIMD deciles.
  • There is a consistent spike in the number of casualties between 15:00 and 18:00 across all SIMD areas.
  • When looking at seriously and slightly injured pedestrian casualties between 15:00 and 18:00 by gender, around 55% of total casualties are males, even though some SIMD areas have more women pedestrian casualties.

The Chair questioned the causation factors in these areas and what we are going to do to address this, suggesting that this may be an area for a possible key priority group.

PS recommended that if we were going to do a research project, it would be at a local level as local roads authorities know the issues on their roads.

Safe System Training and Education

The Chair encouraged all partners to participate in Agylisis survey on the Safe System. The survey is UK wide but can disaggregate information to Scotland. This will help shape the Safe System training course which will be developed.

Action Point 4

SM to provide an update on end evaluation for Driver Engagement North.

Delivery Plan

Delivery Plan Progress and Development

An update on the deliverables contained in the Annual Delivery Plan 2021/22 was provided.

Information that was gathered from all Delivery Partners at the start of 2022 provided the following progress information about these 60 deliverables:

  • 48 were completed or on track for completion by 31 March 2022
  • 5 were delayed. These sat within Strategic Actions for:
    • Speed
    • Funding and Resourcing
    • Changes in attitudes and behaviourActive and Sustainable Travel
    • Knowledge and Data Analysis
  • Seven would not complete/not started or no updates were received. These sat in Strategic Actions:
    • Technology
    • Health
    • Engineering
    • Inequality

Contributions for actions being taken forward in 2022-2023 were requested at the beginning of 2022 and are currently being finalised into the draft of the second delivery plan 2022-2023. A first draft will be issued to all deliver partners for comment very soon.

Road Safety Framework Funding

KG advised the call for Framework and Evaluation bids closed in March, there were eight successful applications, which includes three capital funded bids. Grant letters have been developed and we are currently working with project managers to establish their projects.

Continuing, KG provide an update on the 2021/22 projects, highlighting the Police Scotland – National Dashcam Safety Portal (NDSP) project has been delayed.

SM added that many officers are moving on/retiring so the NDSP project has been paused momentarily, but discussion are ongoing between Police Scotland and Transport Scotland to get progress, highlighting that all are committed to moving this project forward.

The Chair advised members that NDSP is a Programme for Government commitment and Transport Scotland are looking at ways to finding a solution to this issue and progress this commitment, while working with Police Scotland. Assuring members that we will look to provide a further update at the next OPG meeting.

KI highlighted the importance that this project is progressed, adding that it may be worth getting the OPG’s buy in and feeding this up to the SPB.

Road Safety Improvement Fund (RSIF)

The Chair advised members that the £10 million was made available to local authorities through the RSIF, with most applications now received.

An update on the applications received to date was provided noting that;

  • 26/32 of local authorities have submitted applications
  • 6/32 yet to apply
  • 2/3 local authorities have confirmed that they will not be submitting an application

KI asked if members can see the guidance or get a summary of the projects to get a sense of what initiatives are being developed. KI also asked where the other £5m of the £15m has been allocated.

The Chair confirmed that:

  • £1.4m has been allocated to local authorities for road assessments for the National Strategy for 20s
  • Allocated further moneys to early adopters for 20s
  • Money for the Road Safety Framework capital fund bids

Continuing, it was advised that Transport Scotland are preparing a short report to show what initiatives are being ran for the RSIF and is happy to look at a more strategic report to share with members.

Action Point 5

Secretariat to circulate detailed update on delivery plan and status on deliverables.

Action point 6

SM to provide further update on NDSP ahead of next meeting.

Action point 7

Secretariat to share guidance and summary of applications for RSIF.

Framework Delivery Monitoring

Risk Register (Inc Delivery Plan)

Members views were sought on the current risks to the framework and the scoring on each.

NG highlighted the Safe Vehicles risk and queried the work of the DfT Road Safety Investigation Branch which may also cover the potential of in vehicle technology.

The Chair confirmed that discussions have taken place with DfT on this proposal, highlighting that Scotland already have an in-depth fatality research group which looks into each fatal collision. Further discussion are due to take place to finalise the details.

SH noted given the rise in older drivers involved in collisions and the reduction in bus patronage a risk should be added on this.

Action Point 8

Secretariat to update risk register to include risk on older drivers and circulate along with minute and seek members views.

Partner Updates

Looking Back and Looking Forward

Partner updates were circulated in advance of the meeting with the following points highlighted;

  • Living Streets Scotland are continuing with street audits and flagged the contentiousness of bus stop bypasses noting the road safety aspects of these.
  • IAM RoadSmart are working with British Horse Society on a funding bid for research around vulnerable road users and driver behaviour.
  • Cycling Scotland Conference will take place in October, this will have a strong focus on road safety.
  • Road Safety Hour webinars are being ran by ScORSA, highlighting the opportunity for all OPG partners to be involved.
  • ML advised that Phase 1 of the National Strategy for 20 mph is well underway, with funding being allocated to local authorities to carry out a road assessment to establish the number of roads affected. These are expected to be complete by Spring 2023 and once these findings have been collated a implementation route can then be finalised.

WSP have been working through a National Speed Management Review, reviewing speed limit policies across the world. Phase 1 report has now been received and being reviewed by officials ahead of being shared with Ministers.

Action Point 9

Update members on National Speed Management Review once Ministers provide comment.

Key Priority Focus Groups

Presentation on Proposed Groups and Members

The Chair noted that the SPB are keen to have a deep dive into key areas to establish issues and trends of why these collisions happen and any gaps in knowledge.

KI agreed but would need to look at the remit of each group – it would have to be tight but flexible and suggested the term ‘focus’ may be more of discussions.

Members views were sought on the development of groups and their thoughts on partners Chairing these groups, with TS continuing to provide secretariat support.

NG expressed concerns around the number of groups and members capacity. With KI adding a one off seminar may also be useful to get everyone together to discuss.

The Chair confirmed that we could look to merge some groups to have four which covers; Age, Vulnerable Road Users, Driver Behaviour and Enforcement and Deprivation as a possibility. However will also review if any groups are already established which can used to discuss these issues.

Action Point 10

Secretariat to review what other groups are already established and if any of these could be used to discuss these priority groups. To be discussed with members ahead of next meeting to allow update to be provided at SPB in January 2023.

AOB

Damage Only Collisions

AP began by highlighting a recent query to the Minster for Transport enquiring about collecting data on damage only collisions. Noting the resource implications to partners on collecting this.

KI questioned if this was something insurance companies could provide to limit the impact, however advised that this shouldn’t be a priority given the importance of other activities.

ABI had previously provided access to some data, however this was overall Great Britain and unable to filter down to Scotland only.

AP confirmed that a renewed effort would be made with ABI and insurers to establish what data could be collected.

Action Point 11

Secretariat to offer hybrid meeting in February 2023.

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Published Date 1 Nov 2022 Type Mode of transport Topic