Road Safety Framework - Operational Partnership Group (OPG) - meeting minutes - 7 June 2023
Members
- George Henry (GH) (Chair) Transport Scotland Road Safety Policy and Education
- Stuart Wilson (SW) Transport Scotland Safety and Development
- 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
- Tommy Keay (TK) Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
- Steve Wykes (SWy) Motorcycle Action Group
- Dave Shea (DS) Scottish Community Safety Network
- Stuart Colbron (SC) SCOTS
In Attendance
- Stewart Mackie (SM) Police Scotland
- Ivet Gazova (IG) Transport Scotland Statistics
- Alan Martin (AM) Transport Scotland Active Travel
- Stuart Henderson (SHe) Transport Scotland Active Travel
- Lorraine Forrester (LF) Transport Scotland Road Safety Policy
Secretariat
- Kieren Green (KG) Transport Scotland Road Safety Policy
- Ben McKenna (BM) Transport Scotland Road Safety Policy
Apologies
- Fay McNicol (FM) Scottish Ambulance Service
- Nina Day (ND) Health and Safety Executive
- Alistair Ross (AR) Association of British Insurers
- Jill Mulholland (JM) Transport Scotland Sustainable and Active Travel
- Helene Mauchlen (HM) British Horse Society
- Lynne Mason (LM) Road Haulage Association
Welcome and Introductions
The Chair welcomed the OPG members to the meeting, and proceeded with round the table introductions.
Previous Minute and Actions
The minutes of the previous meeting on 22 February 2023 were agreed as an accurate record of discussion, all actions stemming from the last OPG meeting have been completed.
Updates from the Governance Groups
Revised Governance Meeting Dates
The Strategic Partnership Board (SPB), OPG and Local Partnership Forums (LPFs) will now meet in June and November shortly after the publication of Key Reported Road Casualties and Reported Road Casualties Scotland. This will ensure that the latest available data can be discussed at these meetings.
Activity Report from SPB
The SPB met on 5 June 2023 and once the Board has agreed the minutes these will be circulated to the OPG.
The SPB discussed the formation of the Key Priority Groups following the OPG recommendation. The Board proposed that instead of three separate groups that there should be one that meets bi-annually which focuses on the topics of the Key Priority Groups.
OPG members felt that by merging these groups into one would prove a significant challenge to discuss all relevant information and suggest recommendations due to the scale and size of the number of issues being discussed.
Action Point 1: Secretariat to circulate link to SPB minutes once approved by the Board.
Action Point 2: Chair to write back to SPB advising that OPG still recommends three new Key Priority Groups be established.
Knowledge, Data and Training
Targets, Mode & User - Intermediate Measures/KPIs
IG presented casualty data from 2022 Key Reported Road Casualties Scotland publication. An update was given on the four national casualty reduction targets to 2030 with the following being noted;
Reduce fatalities by 50%
- Reduction achieved in 2022 (from 2014/18 average): 0%
- 174 fatalities, which increased by 33 from 2021 (23% increase)
Reduce serious injuries by 50%
- Reduction achieved in 2022 (from 2024/18 average): 37%
- 1,759 serious injuries, which increased by 145 from 2021 (9% increase)
Reduce child fatalities by 60%
- Reduction achieved in 2022 (from 2014/18 average): 17% based on a 3 year average.
- 3 child fatalities, which decreased by 2 from 2021
Reduce child serious injuries by 60%
- Reduction achieved in 2022 (from 2014/18 average): 34%
- 175 child serious injuries, which increased by 35 from 2021 (25% increase)
The following update was also provide on the mode and user specific targets;
40% reduction in pedestrians KSI
- Reduction achieved in 2022 (from 2014/18 average): 42%
- 396 KSI, an increase of 57 from 2021 (17% increase)
20% reduction in pedal cyclists KSI
- Reduction achieved in 2022 (from 2014/18 average): 37%
- 181 KSI, a decrease of 25 from 2021 (12% decrease)
30% reduction in motorcyclists KSI
- Reduction achieved in 2022 (from 2014/18 average): 29%
- 303 KSI, a decrease of 4 from 2021 (1% decrease)
20% reduction in 70+ KSI
- Reduction achieved in 2022 (from 2014/18 average): 19%
- 278 KSI, an increase of 63 from 2021 (29% increase)
70% reduction in 17-25 KSI
- Reduction achieved in 2022 (from the 2014/18 average): 41%
- 322 KSI, an increase of 33 from 2021 (11% increase)
IG also shared a map with members which showed the location of each fatality and serious injury that occurred on Scotland’s roads in 2022, which also details the mode of transport.
It was noted that baseline figures for serious injuries are adjusted with figures subject to re-calculation every year.
The Chair highlighted that MAST can provide additional information on these casualties and that we are looking to hold a training session in the coming months where all members will be invited to attend.
Traffic estimates are expected from the Department for Transport (DfT) in the coming weeks. This will allow to show what the modal shift has been following the pandemic and will be presented at the next OPG meeting. Traffic estimates are required for reporting on the Intermediate Measure contained in the Road Safety Framework: “Casualty rate per 100 million vehicle kilometres for cyclists killed and seriously injured.
NG commented that the age range for older drivers is wider than other age groups and asked if this data could be looked into at more depth to establish which age is more prone to casualties.
Police Management Information Data
SM provided the latest management information data, raising concerns on the number of casualties this fiscal year, and highlighted that Police Scotland are continuing to monitor the analytical data to identify trends in activity.
Police Scotland continue to work collectively with partners including local authorities to address the recent rise in casualties with a focus on pedestrians in collision hotspots.
Police reporting will also soon change to record those aged 70+ as an older road users instead of 65+ which is how these are currently captured.
Action Point 3: Secretariat to circulate presentation and link to casualty map and for members to provide any feedback direct to IG on the map.
Action Point 4: IG to look into older driver casualties in more detail to identify what ages within this bracket are higher.
Action Point 5: IG to include Intermediate Measures data for next OPG meeting.
Delivery Plan and Monitoring
Delivery Plan Progress and Development
An update on the deliverables contained in the 2022/23 Delivery Plan was provided. Noting that:
- 11 were RAG rated red and 9 amber as of 31 March 2023.
- Of the amber deliverables, 4 have now been complete, 4 part complete and 1 not complete.
Deliverables in red were discussed, noting that this is something that we need to push on given all partners own the framework and have signed up to the commitments.
The Chair sought views on holding a road safety submit with all partners to look deeper into collisions and what actions are/can be taken to help reduce.
The group agreed that this would be an important session and would need to be framed in a way which highlights this. This provides an opportunity to raise the profile of road safety and have involvement from community planning and safety groups.
It was noted that there may be actions going unnoticed as they are not reflected within the delivery plan. However it is difficult to include 32 local authorities actions within a national document and this should be fed in through SCOTS.
Risk Register
The risk register was circulated in advance of the meeting and the Chair sought the views on the current risk to the framework and the scoring of each.
Additional risks to the framework were identified and discussed. These included an increase in pedestrian casualties, local authorities not having a road safety plan in place and cuts to budgets including the impact this has on road maintenance.
Partner Updates
Partners were asked for updates with the following points highlighted;
- Over the next year PRIME markings continue to be rolled out, with the potential of these also being available to local authorities.
- Police Scotland are continuing with their campaign calendar noting the current motorcycle campaign. Rider Refinement will also be extended to the East and West command areas.
Action Point 6: Chair/SC to meet to discuss local road safety plans.
Action Point 7: Chair/Secretariat to circulate note for views on holding a road safety submit.
Action Point 8: Chair/SH to meet to discuss pedestrian casualties and further investment in this area.
Action Point 9: Secretariat to review risk register update scoring and re-circulate to members for comment.
Road Safety Funding
A call for application to the Road Safety Framework and Evaluation fund closed on 9 April, with project summaries being passed to OPG and SPB for consideration. This resulted in the following five projects gaining funding approval;
- Police Scotland – Senior Driver – Fitness to Drive Assessments (Framework Fund)
- RoSPA – ScORSA (Framework Fund)
- Safety Camera Programme – Distracted Driver Technology Trial (Framework Fund)
- Agilysis – Safe System Training and Capacity Building (Framework Fund)
- Cycling Scotland – Vulnerable Road User Awareness Training (Evaluation Fund)
An update on the current projects was also provided, highlighting that regular contact is kept with each and we will look to keep OPG members updated with progress.
The Chair advised that the Road Safety Improvement Fund (RSIF) has progressed well this financial year with engagement being had with all local authorities and grant offer letters being issued in the coming weeks.
AOB and Next Meeting
KI asked for an update on the Road Traffic Fatality Research noting the importance of this document.
ML confirmed that this work is progressing well and that the final document will be circulate for members information in due course.
Issues around motorcycle guidelines was mentioned, with work on-going with National Highways to look at this.
The group also passed thanks to NG who retires in November and this will likely be his last meeting.