1 – STRATEGIC ROAD SAFETY PLAN
A SUMMARY OF DRAFT INVESTMENTS
1 – STRATEGIC ROAD SAFETY PLAN
Intervention description
A.1 The Scottish Government is prioritising road safety, through funding for Road Safety Scotland, Safety Camera Partnerships and other initiatives. A strategic direction to road safety has been developed through Transport Scotland’s recently published ten year Strategic Road Safety Plan30. In addition, the Scottish Government intends to publish its Road Safety Strategy.
A.2 This intervention relates to a key objective of the Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR) which is to continue the development and delivery of the Strategic Road Safety Plan through the period 2012-2022. Building on this, the relevant proposed measures would be implemented on the strategic road network in order to reduce the rate and severity of road accidents on Scotland’s trunk roads.
Contribution towards the Scottish Government’s Purpose
A.3 The intervention is specifically aimed at reducing accident rates and achieving the national targets for casualty reductions in the UK. The current targets envisage, by 2010, a 40 per cent reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured, a 50 per cent reduction in child deaths and serious injuries, when compared with the 1994-8 average, and a 10 per cent reduction in the slight casualty rate.
A.4 Making Scotland’s roads safer will make an important contribution to the Scottish Government’s Key Objective for a Safer and Stronger Scotland and the STPR objective to promote continuing reduction in accident rates and severity rates across the strategic transport network, recognising the need to continue the work of the Strategic Road Safety Plan through the STPR period. This will support the Scottish Government’s Purpose by increasing the attractiveness of Scotland as a place to live and work, hence attracting high quality businesses and talented migrants, reducing out-migration and securing the productive engagement of an even higher proportion of the population.
A.5 The Strategic Road Safety Plan therefore provides the framework for the various interventions identified in this report to address these specific STPR objectives.
Links to Other Strategies
A.6 This intervention links to the Road Safety Strategy and the Road Asset Management Plan31.
Current Status of Project
A.7 The Strategic Road Safety Plan has recently been published, and is widely supported. This intervention continues the development and delivery of the Strategic Road Safety Plan through the period 2012-2022.
Indicative Costs
A.8 The anticipated cost of helping to deliver the Strategic Road Safety Plan is between £10m and £50m over the course of the STPR period.
Deliverability
A.9 The deliverability of the intervention is considered technically and operationally feasible. Although some new and untried technologies may be put forward for implementation as a result of research and development of new techniques, the Strategic Road Safety Plan promotes a structured approach to adopting these techniques, making use of Demonstration Road Safety Projects and knowledge sharing. This approach would be likely to minimise any risks associated with the implementation of new techniques. The collation of road safety statistics to inform any updates of the Plan is a well established procedure. It is expected that any data required to inform the updates can be collected without disruptions to the network.