Scotland's Road Safety Framework To 2020 Annual Report 2012

Scotland

1. Scotland's Road Safety Framework was published in June 2009. The first national road safety plan in Scotland in over a decade, it set out commitments over the next ten years for a Safer Scotland on our roads. This was also the first time we had ever had Scottish road safety targets for casualty reduction: 40% reduction in fatalities; 55% reduction in serious injuries; 50% reduction in children killed and 65% reduction in children seriously injured based on a 2004-2008 average.

2. Crucially, the Framework is a collaborative document supported by partners in road safety across Scotland including local authorities, the fire and rescue service and the police

3. The Framework is governed by a Road Safety Strategic Partnership Board (SPB) who are responsible for collective decisions on strategic approaches, high level problems and issues, and public ownership of the Framework and its delivery. Members are expected to make key decisions on behalf of their respective organisations and to ensure that these are followed through.

4. The work of the SPB is supported by a group of partners at operational level in road safety. The Operational Partnership Group (OPG) is made up of operational and policy experts in road safety and related topics such as education, engineering and enforcement. It reports on good practice in road safety in Scotland and beyond, and advises on what works in road safety based on members' research, experience and knowledge.

5. The Board met this year in January and May, in addition to a joint planning meeting with the OPG which took place in September. On 21 March 2012, Keith Brown, Minister for Transport and Veterans, chaired a special cyclist-focussed meeting of the OPG, which included other specially-invited experts. At that meeting, a number of action points were agreed and the following actions have been undertaken:

6. This was part of a wider focus by the SPB on the needs of vulnerable users. This will continue throughout 2013, although the main strategic focus will be on addressing the continuing problem of excessive and inappropriate speed on Scotland's roads. The Minutes of all meetings can be found on the road safety section of the Transport Scotland website.

7. The establishment of an Innovation Fund, was launched in April 2012. It was intended to encourage new thinking in road safety. This Fund makes available small amounts of money to part-fund local road safety pilot projects that fit with Framework priorities and have the potential to be of value at a national level. In line with our commitment to intelligence-led road safety targeting, there is an emphasis here on evaluation and information sharing. Continuing the theme of evaluation, Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government's Community Safety Unit have jointly put in place an Evaluation Framework contract, which allows us to offer evaluation training support for external partners. This work also seeks to facilitate skills transfer, so that those who receive this training and support are encouraged to pass these evaluation skills on to others. We want to encourage our partners to evaluate the work that they do.

8. To assist local road safety partners in local road safety planning and in identifying local priorities, we purchased a Scotland wide public sector licence for MAST, for 1 year initially. This allows any road safety professional in any council, police force or fire and rescue service in Scotland, as well as Transport Scotland and RoSPA Scotland to register for a MAST account entirely free of charge. MAST is an online road safety data resource. It encompasses several useful datasets into one easily accessible and usable system. It allows statistical analysis of UK-wide data, as well as local data and provides a high level of detailed information on road casualty statistics. It offers the ability to research statistics UK-wide (not just locally).

9. Other organisational and local plans support the Road Safety Framework. In light of police reform, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (AS) has agreed to extend the lifespan of its current Road Policing Strategy until the new single force comes into being, which is due to be completed in 2013. As a consequence of this change, the Scottish Safety Camera Programme Office recently became part of Transport Scotland. The Strategy is aligned with the Framework as is the Chief Fire Officer Association in Scotland (CFOAS) road safety document. Local authorities also have their own local road safety plans, many of which include Scotland's national targets. Although the Scottish targets are not set at a local or organisational level, each organisation involved with road safety in Scotland is asked to make a contribution to achieving the targets through national and local activities.