Strategic actions

Strategic actions

In order to address current and emerging challenges, the following ten Strategic Actions have been identified. These are meant to be overarching, and are not allocated to any nominated road safety partners. They must be seen instead as the collective responsibility of all stakeholders and road safety partners, labelled throughout the naming of the actions as "we". Their delivery will be monitored through the three-tier structure of the Framework governance. They will have to be translated and expanded through the development of both national and local delivery plans which will sit outwith the Framework. These plans should be flexible, in order to address current and emerging casualty trends.

Speed: we will deliver a range of speed management initiatives to support the Safe System.

Education, for example social marketing campaigns or (potential) speed awareness, as part of wider Road Traffic Diversionary Courses, will be key to ensuring road users understand why speed limits are set in any particular area, and the need to comply with them. Driving/riding to the conditions, particularly in bad weather and on congested roads, is an important skill to gain.

Engineering: consideration should be given to undertaking a National Speed Management Review that would look at what appropriate speeds mean in a Scottish context.

Enforcement of speed through traditional use of road policing, and fixed and mobile safety cameras will also form part of this strategic action. Continuing to embrace new technology and opportunities, such as processing dashcam footage will also be key to achieving success.

Climate: we will deliver road safety initiatives that positively impact the climate emergency and we will mitigate the negative impacts climate change may have on road safety.

In relation to climate change adaptation, road users will need to gain the knowledge, skills and experience required under extreme weather conditions to become safe and responsible. Employers and employees should be encouraged to apply the Severe weather: fair work charter in order to mitigate road safety risk within their organisations. By smoothing traffic flow, good speed management has the potential to reduce emissions and improve air quality. As far as promoting greener, cleaner choices is concerned, the new Framework consistently applies the Travel Hierarchy to road safety matters.

Funding & Resourcing: we will consider how funding streams can be improved for national road safety delivery.

Consideration could be given to the development of a national Road Safety Improvement Fund to help road authorities meet the challenging 2030 road casualty reduction targets. Road policing should also remain a key priority for Police Scotland. All road safety partners must become smarter at pooling resources from different budget holders to align outcomes and help achieve better road safety performance at all levels.

Change in Attitudes & Behaviour: we will engage in partnership working to enable all road users to understand their road safety responsibilities, allowing them to improve their attitudes and behaviours for the safety of themselves and others.

Implementing a national conversation on road safety will encourage greater personal responsibility and a change in perception which, ultimately, should lead to a transformation of the road safety culture. The over-riding priority is to highlight the impact of road casualties on communities and the costs to everyday people and their families; while also important to the economy, the emphasis should not simply be about the inconvenience of road closures and delays. Potential activity could include celebrity/online-influencer input; a road safety week with planned events; an online knowledge portal; social media campaigns; and competitions for children and their parents/carers.

Technology: we will research, implement and evaluate technologies for use within the Safe System and promote them as appropriate.

As technology is rolled out in vehicles, as part of the infrastructure, or directly to road users, it will be very important to monitor the delivery of Scotland's CAV roadmap and to research and evaluate the impact, both positive or negative, of these features on road safety, particularly around the distracting effects of the latest Human Machine Interface technology.

Active & Sustainable Travel: we will ensure road safety remains a key focus of active & sustainable travel in Scotland.

The current push towards more active and sustainable travel needs to consider road safety issues and outcomes from the initial concept/design phase. In addition, active travel initiatives will have to support tackling the so-called 'safety in numbers' effect. Active & sustainable travel contributes to better place-making which, in turn, contributes to safer places, including from a road safety perspective.

Knowledge & Data Analysis: we will ensure our actions are evidence-led to support the delivery of the Safe System.

Embedding the Safe system means any road safety initiatives under each of the five pillars are backed up by evidence and then fully-evaluated, not only in terms of success in delivery, but also the longer-term success of their road safety outcomes. We need to ensure we can access and harness data from a variety of sources, be it academic research, the motor insurance industry, vehicle manufacturers (through telematics), or technology companies (through mobile phone data, etc.). This will enhance road safety outcomes.

Enforcement: we will optimise enforcement to encourage good road user behaviour to support the Safe System.

Enforcement of the rules of the road, including random testing, spreads across most of the five pillars of the Safe System. Safe road use, such as: seatbelt and speed limit compliance; driving unimpaired by drugs and/or alcohol; and the maintenance of a safe fleet through the MOT regime and insurance checks should contribute to safer roads. The presence, and/or threat, of enforcement, combined with suitable road user education is essential to deter people from taking risks. Enforcement methods should also embrace emerging technology which would make it smarter.

Health: we will strengthen the relationship between health and road safety, reduce the likelihood, number and severity of collisions and improve the post-crash response.

Systematic cross-referencing of casualty data from STATS 19 and health (in terms of hospital admissions data) will provide a clearer overall picture of road collisions in Scotland. In addition, pooling road safety and health resources together at national and local level should realise more benefits than would have been achieved using the same resources separately. It should be better value for money to prevent casualties in the first instance, thus saving health resources which could be re-directed to caring for other patients, rather than treating road casualties. This situation occurred during lockdown when everything was done to avoid overwhelming the NHS with other than Covid-19 related patients.

Education: we will provide opportunities to all road users to gain the knowledge, skills and experience required to become safe and responsible users.

Education is critical to position road safety as a lifelong-learning process. Given the importance of early years, it is vital that learning starts at an early age. We will ensure Curriculum for Excellence allows appropriate time for road safety education. At the same time, we will ensure road users will have access to resources to learn - their road safety knowledge will be enhanced and they can be exposed to risk in a controlled environment - to improve their experience, and their behaviour, to demonstrate positive road safety attitudes and behaviours throughout their lives.

Do you think the strategic actions will deliver the outcomes and address the identified challenges?

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Are some of these actions more important than others?

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The table below provides a snapshot view of how each of the strategic actions have the potential to address a number of challenges, allowing for some kind of prioritisation of these actions to maximise their effect.

Strategic actions and their challenges