Activity Over 2020
Activity Over 2020
Road Safety over Covid-19
2020 saw a general reduction in motor traffic due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Department for Transport (DfT) estimate that motor traffic volume dropped by 23% in Scotland in 2020 compared with 2019 (key-reported-road-casualties-scotland-2020-key-findings-report.pdf (transport.gov.scot)).
Recognising that people may have been 'rusty' and perhaps not as confident with getting back on the road, Road Safety Scotland, in partnership with Police Scotland posted 'post-lockdown' videos for use on social media. One video is fronted by a Road Policing Officer which features a short drive. The Officer gave advice to prepare for being back on the road and also to remind drivers to be conscious of the increased numbers of vulnerable road users – pedestrians and cyclists – which is now evident on our roads. This video can be found on the below link: Road Safety Scotland - RSS - PS driver education video | Facebook
Post-lockdown, Road Safety Scotland, working with colleagues in Police Scotland and the Scottish Government Marketing and Insights Unit, also launched a number of campaigns, including campaign activity on vulnerable road users, and throughout the year, supported the Police Scotland campaigns such as the drink and drug drive campaign, fatigue campaign and more. Road Safety Scotland's videos can be found on the below link: Road Safety Scotland - Videos | Facebook
Team Scotland Approach
The framework to 2020 established and maintained strong partnership working across the whole road safety community in Scotland, and therein lies its success.
Transport Scotland's Road Safety Policy Team continued to carry out the Team Scotland approach, where the team visited road safety partnerships across Scotland (where they exist) or individual local authorities prior to the Covid-19 restrictions, however, all subsequent meetings have been carried out virtually. Team Scotland's main aim is to provide an evidence base for road safety delivery and improve the connection at a local level.
Team Scotland is about delivering a wider understanding of the challenges we all face, and working more closely to devise and implement solutions for those challenges. We need to fully understand the processes in place, ensure different demographics are represented, the impact they have on road safety and the role they play in casualty reduction, highlighting that we can adapt and respond.
This is a way of working locally to build an evidence base of what is being delivered and to be able to share good practice and identify any gaps in interventions.
One of the outputs of this exercise was to map out of all safety partnerships across Scotland with their associated membership and road safety plans/strategies. A road safety questionnaire was also circulated to the partners in January 2020 to collect as much information as possible to help create a wider picture of road safety.
National Conversation
It is incumbent on partners working to deliver the framework's vision and targets to ensure casualty reduction – and road safety more generally – is raised higher up the agenda and to this end, partners are keen to see a National Conversation on road safety. The aim of the National Conversation is to encourage greater personal responsibility for all and a change in perception which ultimately, should lead to a transformation of road safety culture. Due to Covid restrictions this project has not progressed as much as planned and will continue into the 2030 framework.
Further Expansion of 20 mph Speed Limits
Following the 20 mph Restricted Roads (20 mph Speed Limits) (Scotland) Bill, which fell at Stage 1 of the Scottish Parliamentary legislative process in June 2019, the Scottish Government has continued to work with CoSLA and SCOTS to help identify straightforward, efficient and effective procedures for local authorities who wish to introduce more 20 mph speed limits in the right environment.
Research was conducted over July to September 2020 through the SCOTS network, to better understand potential barriers or issues which could be prohibiting local authorities from implementing 20 mph speed limits in the right environments. The research identified lack of funding, lack of resources and implementation as a low priority as the main barriers. The research, which was carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic, also highlighted that many local authorities had introduced 20 mph limits alongside wider measures to maintain social distancing as part of the Spaces for People (SfP) funding programme.
Transport Scotland is continuing to work with local authorities to encourage the implementation of 20 mph in the appropriate locations.
A national strategy for 20 mph speed limits and refreshed guidance will be explored as part of the next framework to 2030.
Road Traffic Fatality Research
To advance our knowledge and change our approach in preventing road deaths, Transport Scotland has been working in partnership with Police Scotland to establish Road Traffic Fatality Research in Scotland.
Research will be conducted through 'deep dive' investigations into the root causes of all fatalities on Scotland's road network, beyond the broad-based options currently available on the STATS 19 form, to fully understand the circumstances which led to the each fatal collision.
Reports will be created to inform stakeholders and support options for implementation of potential countermeasures that, if deployed, would either avoid or reduce the severity of those collisions and could mitigate future collisions on the road network that have similar characteristics. The research will lead to a more proactive/preventative approach in the reduction of road deaths.
A working group has been created to lead on the delivery of the research and once reports are produced, in February 2022, the group will examine the recommendations and agree on how to progress/action the countermeasures.
Scotland's National Speed Indicator
Following the SPB's recommendation, Transport Scotland has continued working in partnership with local authorities across Scotland to finalise the establishment of a National Speed Indicator.
Scotland's National Speed Indicator would measure and evidence the speeds travelled in Scotland across a variety of roads, initially establishing a baseline for speed and then to monitor going forward, providing information such as:
- Does Scotland have a speeding problem?
- Which vehicle types are speeding?
- Are vehicles travelling at excessive speeds?
- Does speeding occur on a particular type of road across Scotland or only in a particular geographical area?
- Is there a particular time of night/day people speed?
- Measure the amount of vehicles travelling our roads; are there fewer vehicles from the baseline?
A total of 100 speed counters have been installed on both trunk and local roads with a variety of speed limits from 70 mph down to 20 mph. To gain a true indication of speed across Scotland the speed surveys would not influence a driver's speed, with all the roads selected having free-flowing conditions, away from any road safety measures which would otherwise impede the drivers' natural speed for the road environment they are driving on. These can include junctions, roundabouts, traffic lights etc.
If a speeding problem is identified on a surveyed road, we would not simply modify the road but would seek to tackle the wider issue identified, i.e. a speeding campaign focused on particular roads, investigate engineering solutions for similar road types and targeted vehicle initiatives.
We have used the same equipment across the network to collect the data in a consistent manner, which will establish a robust and credible process in the collection of speed and the setting of baseline speed compliance.
The collected data will inform an analytical product that will measure speed compliance but will also be used to identify particular patterns, thereby focusing partnership efforts in the right places on the road network leading to a more proactive/preventative approach to speed.
A user-friendly reporting dashboard has been agreed by the SPB and OPG.