Road Safety Framework: Annual Report 2014
Partner Activity
Road Safety Scotland
Road Safety Scotland (RSS) sits within Transport Scotland's Transport Accessibility and Road Safety Team, and has responsibility for road safety education and publicity. It is governed by two sub-committees which draw membership from local authorities, the police and fire services, and other bodies with a national interest in road safety.
The Publicity Sub-committee works on two levels: working tactically to address the many road safety behaviours which lead to casualties while, at the same time developing strategic social marketing campaigns to address those behaviours which lead to the greatest number of fatal and serious casualties in Scotland.
The Education Sub-committee oversees the development of resources, both hard copy and web-based, to ensure that, from early years until the end of their secondary education, there is appropriate road safety information available for children and young people.
Useful links:
www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Schools/curriculum
www.educationscotland.gov.uk/slf/
Education
Road Safety within Curriculum for Excellence
It is vital that all road safety resources are aligned with Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) and support Scottish schools in delivering the relevant experiences and outcomes for their pupils. This year, the CfE guide was amended and distributed to schools in November 2014 and at the Scottish Learning Festival in October.
Early Years
RSS is committed to a lifelong-learning approach to road safety and the value of early intervention should not be underestimated. Go Safe with Ziggy is the cornerstone of this activity, and RSS is grateful to many partners who continue to support this approach. In 2014, most of the little Ziggy books for home were distributed across Scotland through Education Scotland, while the Buggy Book and Primary 1 Book were included in the Scottish Book Trust's 'Bookbug Baby Bag' and 'Family Pack' respectively.
Theatre in Education
Theatre & Learning continued to deliver the programme on behalf of RSS in 2014. In total, four tours were undertaken: 'The Journey' for P6/7 pupils; 'The Nine Lives of Roddy Hogg' for S1 pupils; 'Friends Disunited' for S5/6 pupils; and 'Better Late than Dead on Time' for intergenerational and community audiences. The shows were delivered in 400 different venues, delivering 430 individual performances to more than 41,000 audience members.
Junior Road Safety Officers (JRSO)
The JRSO website is the core resource for supporting JRSOs in their work and further web developments were undertaken to ensure that information and activities remain current and engaging. Furthermore, schools that no longer have dedicated road safety support are now able to order online the support materials they need for the school year.
Scottish Learning Festival
Once again the Scottish Learning Festival presented an ideal opportunity for RSS to showcase its educational resources to the education sector. The road safety stand at the show in September featured Go Safe with Ziggy and the revised Curriculum for Excellence guide. The aim of this activity was to ensure that those in or training for the teaching profession were aware that road safety presents one of the major threats to those in their care, and that high-quality resources were available to address the various problems faced by our children and young people on the roads.
56% fewer children seriously injured than in 2004-08; exceeding the reduction needed to meet the 2015 milestone but above the 2020 target
Useful links:
http://dontriskit.info/kids-in-the-car/
www.road-safety.org.uk/research/road-safety-information-tracking-study-rits/
http://dontriskit.info/country-roads/view-the-campaign/
www.goodeggcarsafety.com/scotland/
www.road-safety.org.uk/driving/young-drivers/get-in-lane
Parental Influence Campaign - Kids in the Car
This ground-breaking campaign, aimed at parents/carers who drive with children in the car had its second outing in summer 2014. The field activity also included a stand at the Scottish Car Show at Ingliston in July. The evaluation of the first phase in 2013 was very positive and the latest phase showed no reduction in its impact. In 2014, the evaluation showed that many of the key messages were being communicated successfully by the campaign, especially with women and younger parents. When asked what the main message of the campaign was, one in five parents stated 'children are watching/are influenced by you'; a further 18% identified it as 'watch your behaviour'; 15% said 'children learn/pick up bad habits quickly'; and 24% said 'be careful when driving/driving with children'. Based on the lifelong-learning approach to road safety, this campaign aspires to drive down the number of new young drivers injured on our roads in the future but, if parents and carers adapt their driving behaviour based on the campaign premise, the initiative should also realise some shorter-term benefits.
Road Safety Information Tracking Study
RSS continued to fund the ongoing Road Safety Information Tracking Study (RITS) omnibus study in 2014. Its aim is to track driver attitudes and behaviour over time and assess the longer-term effect of campaigns. To date, nine waves of this study have been carried out between September 2010 and August 2014. Around 1,000 interviews were conducted in each wave, and these were conducted with drivers face-to-face, in-home using Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI). The latest wave showed a decline in all risk driving behaviours in 2014, but identified differences between what drivers see as major offences as opposed to minor ones. This wave also showed an increase in the perceived seriousness of mobile phone use, driving when tired, not wearing a seatbelt, and speeding 5 or 10mph over the speed limit.
Publicity
Country Roads
The Country Roads Campaign in October 2014 saw the end of the highly successful agreement with David Coulthard to front RSS country roads activity. The evaluation of the campaign was very positive as it continued to reach its target audience of younger males. Motivation levels remained high, with the chosen media mix performing well, although attitudes among 22-29 year old males remain slightly less positive. The evaluation also suggested the need to freshen up the campaign and tackle the issue of familiarity as those driving most frequently on country roads were least likely to change habitual driving behaviour. The Country Road Challenge - a large electronic racing track - toured the country and field staff engaged with almost 7,000 people during the campaign, of which 1,370 took the Coulthard challenge.
Drink-Driving
A major milestone in the fight against drink-driving was delivered in 2014, when new legislation came into effect in Scotland on December 5 2014 bringing into effect a reduced drink drive limit. RSS undertook an extensive public information campaign from 17 November to herald the change and, on 5 December, launched and delivered the successful social marketing campaign to complement Police Scotland's annual Festive Safety Campaign. There was extensive media interest from launch of the public information phase through to January 2015. Field activity engaged with over 18,000 individuals during the two campaigns and over 100 partner organisations helped distribute key messages to employees while social media activity reached over 260,000 fans and followers.
Motorcycling
RSS worked closely with Police Scotland to ensure a road safety presence at the Scottish Motorcycle Show at Ingliston in March 2014. A new exhibition stand was designed and police motorcycle officers engaged with an overwhelming interest from bikers during the two days. Motorcyclists are estimated to make up 1% of traffic but account for 13% of fatalities in Scotland so RSS will make this more of a focus in 2015-2016. A substantial amount of development work has gone into creating a new social marketing campaign which will be ready to air at the beginning of the biking season in April 2015.
Child In-Car Safety
The 2014 Good Egg Campaign launched at Fort Kinnaird, Edinburgh in June. A number of new partners joined up with existing partners to try and achieve a more consistent approach to in-car safety messaging across Scotland. The campaign, which is managed on behalf of the partnership by Dynamic Advertising, is supported by the Good Egg Guide, the Good Egg Safety website and social media. During the 2014 campaign, over 900 seats were checked from the Island Authorities to the Borders and there were almost 11,000 visits to the campaign website.
Road Safety Village
RSS, with the help of The Union, co-ordinated the Road Safety Village at the Royal Highland Show. This is a major event which involved many road safety delivery partners. The village attracted an estimated 20,500 visitors during the 2014 Royal Highland Show with almost 4,000 visiting the drink-drive 'mock bar' and just under 500 taking the Country Road Challenge.
Young Drivers
The Get in Lane website continued to be the main RSS source of information for young drivers during 2014, and RSS was also the main sponsor of the Scottish Car Show at Ingliston in July. Although primarily younger people, this is very much a family event and an encouraging number of commercial partners ensured that the important issues affecting the safety of young drivers and young families were covered during the event. As well as police, safety camera and local authority presence on the stand, fire service colleagues outside demonstrated the on-board equipment used in dealing with road collisions.
In addition to the Kids in the Car campaign, the RSS parental leaflet 'So Your Teenager is Learning to Drive…' was completely redesigned in 2014. Parents have a vital role to play before, during and after the traditional driver training and testing period and these two initiatives hope to give advice to parents about how best to ensure the future safety of their children when they take to the road as new drivers.
60% fewer children have lost their lives in road accidents than 2004-08; fulfilling the 2020 target of a 50% reduction[1] On average 6 children per year lost their lives between 2011-13 but that remains too many
Police Scotland
Road safety and casualty reduction remains a significant priority for Police Scotland and appropriate force-wide and local tasking of resources, and monitoring of activity and performance outputs, continues. There are 14 Divisional Road Policing Units (DRPU), each under the command of a dedicated Road Policing Inspector, that exist to address local issues and concerns and to assist local Police Commanders in their efforts to reduce casualties. DRPU Inspectors also now play an active role in local Road Safety Partnerships ensuring that appropriate support is provided to new and ongoing initiatives.
A national Trunk Roads Patrol Group (TRPG) has also been established to provide an enhanced level of service on the main routes across the country, to positively influence road user behaviour, keep people safe and keep Scotland moving. The governance and oversight of road casualty reduction has now developed to encompass a force Road Safety Governance Board which is chaired by the DCC Crime and Operational Support. There are also three Area Boards that will be chaired by the Local Policing Assistant Chief Constables for North, East and West and Divisional Boards that will focus on police activity on local issues of concern and ensure that wider partnership opportunities are utilised to maximise the effectiveness of local initiatives.
Enforcement remains the cornerstone of Police Scotland's Road Safety strategy. However work has continued with the Crown Office in respect of a wider suite of "direct measures" that are designed to divert road users from the criminal justice system and provide the force with a means of ensuring that individuals are directed to education and driver/rider improvements schemes where appropriate.
Themes progressed this year have included:
- Motorcycle Safety
- Vulnerable Road Users as part of Brake Road Safety Week
- Get Ready for Winter
- Drink and Drugs Driving (summer and festive).
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has identified their contribution to road safety and road casualty reduction within their Strategic Plan and this is transposed at a local level as a "priority" within respective Local Fire and Rescue Plans, reflective of the needs of the 32 local authority areas in Scotland. During 2014 the SFRS was involved in a number of road safety initiatives with the vision of "working together for a safer Scotland" and achieving one of our very high priorities "contributing to the reduction of casualties and injuries, which occur on Scottish roads".
The implementation of road safety initiatives is via the SFRS seasonal community safety calendar. In particular, the SFRS supported the delivery of young driver interventions with Police Scotland and the Scottish Ambulance Service including 'Safe Drive Stay Alive' and 'Cut it Out' with the aim of addressing the issues and consequences of excessive speed and poor standards of driving. Audiences included young offenders from HMP Polmont, Secondary Schools throughout Scotland and College Campuses.
A 36% decrease in the number of people seriously injured since 2004-08; 1,672 people seriously injured in 2013 remains above the milestone and target but continues a general downward trend
Scottish Safety Camera Programme
Safety cameras play a crucial role in speed enforcement and are an integral element of the Framework, which recognises the contribution they can make in the effort to achieve our ambitious casualty reduction targets and make Scotland's roads safer for everyone. In order to ensure that the programme delivers the most effective and efficient outcomes, and that best use is being made of existing resources, a comprehensive review of the programme was undertaken. This was led by Transport Scotland, in association with Police Scotland, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA), the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE), the Society of Chief Officers for Transportation in Scotland (SCOTS) and other stakeholders.
The review's outcomes include a range of measures that will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the programme, strengthen national strategic oversight, improve local accountability, and ensure national consistency and greater flexibility of deployment. Any savings delivered through the review's outcomes will be reinvested into frontline enforcement activity, and cameras will continue to be deployed through the programme primarily where they have the greatest potential to reduce injury collisions, with site selection criteria revised to this end. This will be supported by the appropriate use of new technologies, building from the programme's digital enforcement and night-vision capability.
Society of Chief Officers for Transportation in Scotland
The Society of Chief Officers for Transportation in Scotland (SCOTS) is a strategic body representing Scotland's 32 local authorities and seven Regional Transport Partnerships. SCOTS plays a key role in the design, delivery and maintenance of Scotland's various transport systems and continues to be represented on the Scottish Road Research Board to evaluate and commission research projects into all aspects of roads, including road safety, and the Board continues to fund appropriate projects.
Useful links:
SCOTS continued to play a role as a key road safety partner with Transport Scotland in the development of Scotland's revised 'Good Practice Guide on 20mph Speed Restrictions', the introduction of legislation on the use of seatbelts on school buses and the Scottish Safety Camera Programme review. The SCOTS Traffic and Road Safety Working Group met four times in 2014 and in addition to the above, considered a variety of work areas including Accident Investigation and Prevention Issues, Vehicle Activated Signs, De-criminalised Parking Enforcement and the review of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions.
In 2014, SCOTS produced a best practice guide for carrying out safety audits by reviewing current local authority procedures. This fulfilled a medium term commitment in the Road Safety Framework to 2020 and has now been distributed to all Scottish local authorities.
Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents Scotland
Transport Scotland supports RoSPA Scotland in the delivery of a range of road safety-related work. During 2014 RoSPA Scotland has continued to run the Scottish Occupational Road Safety Alliance (ScORSA) to promote the positive benefits of managing driving risks at work, to companies, especially Small and Medium Enterprises, across Scotland. Monthly newsletters, the www.scorsa.org.uk website, the ScORSA Driving Risks at Work Toolkit and the annual ScORSA St Andrew's Seminar have all enabled Scottish employers to continue to access free road safety advice and share good practice in their management of occupational road risk to ensure that employers are supported to make a contribution to reducing the toll of accidents on Scotland's roads.
RoSPA Scotland published a Road Safety Guide for Elected Members in Scotland in August 2014 to demonstrate how local authorities can continue to deliver effective road safety services by using evidence; co-ordinating with other public services; designing and delivering projects in partnership; and evaluating the effectiveness of their work.
RoSPA Scotland continued to develop the first Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) qualification for road safety practitioners in Scotland. The SQA units are linked to the commitments within the Road Safety Framework to 2020, and will help to introduce a benchmark for quality assurance for road safety service delivery. In June 2014, RoSPA Scotland launched the SQA Programme with modules covering Priority User Groups, Partnership Working and Legislative Framework, Resources Educations Training and Publicity, Road Casualty Profile, Evaluation and Presentation and Communication Skills in Road safety. This now provides road safety professionals and practitioners in Scotland the opportunity to achieve a unique industry standard qualification to equip them with the specialist knowledge, delivery skills and analytical capabilities needed to continue to reduce road deaths.
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) promotes and protects the interests of councils in Scotland and the people and communities they serve by representing their views to Scottish, UK and European governments and legislatures, other bodies and the public. CoSLA continued to play a key role as a road safety partner with Transport Scotland in the development of Scotland's revised 'Good Practice Guide on 20mph Speed Restrictions', the Scottish Safety Camera Programme review and the working group considering seatbelts on dedicated school transport.
The Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers
The Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers (SOLACE) is a representative body for chief executives and senior managers in local authorities. It provides linkages and support to CoSLA and various professional bodies of functions within local government. SOLACE continued to play a key role as a road safety partner through the review and implementation of School Transport Safety, introducing the Guide to Improving School Transport Safety; working with councils and schools to realign the provision and delivery of Road Safety Education, as a result of structural changes; working with the Safety Camera Partnership on restructuring and playing a role within community planning partnerships.