thames valley safer roads partnership nnualnnual ... · reports achievements casualty figures 2 new...

Following the Department for Transport‟s announcement

in December 2005 that funding for road safety, including

enforcement cameras, was changing in 2007 the mem-

bers of the Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership

(TVSRP) came together to set a fresh direction for part-

nership activity in this new era.

The funding previously ring-fenced for safety camera

activity has been allocated to highway authorities to

spend on any road safety activities necessary to achieve

the casualty reduction targets. Whilst speed and other

traffic enforcement remains a key function of the new

TVSRP, the range of activities undertaken will be broad-

ened and tailored to improve the safety and quality of

life in communities, neighbourhoods and on the roads in

the Thames Valley area.

In order to meet this challenge the partnership has un-

dergone a re-structuring to give more influence and ac-

countability in the decision making processes to the

partners with a focused partnership team providing day

to day support on issues that matter in Thames Valley.

Accountability to the public, as well as the partners is a

key part of the new partnership and this first annual re-

view will provide that by outlining the work of the part-

nership over the first year of operations, as well as re-

porting on progress to the key targets, both national and

local, that drive the work of the partners.

Richard Owen—TVSRP Operations Manager

Published December 2008

Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership

AANNUALNNUAL RREPORTEPORT [2007-2008]

A new partnership, a fresh challenge

ContentsContents

Reports Achievements

Casualty Figures 7 2 New Road Safety Constables

Camera Site Performance 8 3 Educating Motorists

Fines & Income 9 3 Route Alert

Expenditure 10 4 Safe Drive Stay Alive

Targets 5—6 Plans

11-12 2008 and beyond

Partnership working: Police and

local authority officers delivering

enforcement and education at the

roadside.

VISION

To secure a safer environment

on the roads in Thames Valley by promoting safe driving and

riding, reducing collisions and improving safety to protect the health and wellbeing of all road

users, residents and visitors in

the area.

2007 saw the lowest number

of casualties recorded on the

roads of Thames Valley in

modern times. Road casual-

ties have fallen by nearly 20%

since the year 2000, and the

most severe of collisions

(those in which someone was

either killed or seriously in-

jured—KSI) have dropped by

30% in the same time period.

The number of fatalities on the

roads in 2007 was also the

lowest on record.

Progress towards the govern-

ment‟s RCR2010 targets is

positive, with the number of

people killed or seriously in-

jured in 2007 being 34% be-

low the 1994-98 average.

Child KSI targets and “Slights

per 100m vehicle kilometres”

are both below the 2010 tar-

get value showing an encour-

aging trend, although child

KSIs have risen slightly since

2006.

However, whilst the overall

2007 casualty figures are very

encouraging, some key areas

remain of concern to the Part-

nership. The number of casu-

alties from crashes where the

driver was fatigued has risen

by 14% compared to 2006.

Figures for vulnerable road

users are not reducing as fast

as we would like: pedestrian

and pedal cycle casualties re-

main at around the 2006 level

and both significantly higher

than the equivalent figures in

2005. Pedal cycle casualties

have seen no significant re-

duction since year 2000. Motor

cycle KSI casualties remain

around the 2006 level but are

lower than equivalent figures

in the 2000-2003 period. Mo-

torway casualties are also

increasing. Whilst the 2007

figures include two high pro-

file motorway coach crashes,

casualty totals in the region

have risen for the 4th year in

succession; they are now at

a higher level that they were

in 2000.

For a more detailed report on

collisions in Thames Valley,

visit www.saferroads.org

Casualty Figures Hit All-Time Low

TVSRP Partnership Report 2007—2008

6000

7000

8000

9000

10000

11000

12000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Cas

ual

tie

s p

er

year

Thames Valley 2007

Killed 117

Seriously Injured 1007

Slightly Injured 8371

http://www.saferroads.org

Safety camera sites con-

tinue to perform well

across the region, with

the number of people

killed or seriously injured

in the last 3 years being

43% lower than in the

three years before cam-

eras were used. All casu-

alties have also reduced

at sites by 23% compared

with the periods before

installation.

Full details on the per-

formance of every camera

site in Thames Valley can

be found on the website.

The number of fixed cam-

eras hasn‟t increased sig-

that TVSRP now operate en-

forcement activities at 295

fixed speed cameras, 206

mobile locations and 22 red-

light cameras.

Full details can be found on

our website using an interac-

tive search tool. This in-

cludes information about

when a camera was installed

and the number of casualties

Offences detected and No-

tices of Intended Prosecution

(NIP) are down on the last

operational year clearly dem-

onstrating that motorists in

Thames Valley are slowing

down at camera sites. This

is backed up by evidence

from the DfT which shows

that in 1997, 70 per cent of

cars travelled at speeds in

excess of the limit but by

2007, this has dropped to

less than half.

Enforcement levels have

been maintained and the

number of mobile camera

sites has increased slightly.

During the year, 27 new mo-

bile camera locations were

commissioned. This means

recorded before and after instal-

lation.

For the first time in 2007-08, as

many people attended a speed

awareness course as paid fines.

Over 43,000 people attended

courses between April „07 and

March „08 with another 3,000

going on a course aimed at

those caught using a handheld

mobile phone whilst driving.

Collisions At Camera Sites Down 43%

Numbers of Offences and Fines Reduced


nificantly since the late 90‟s

with mobile units now being

deployed around Thames

Valley to address speeding

concerns. Early 2008 saw

the introduction of the first

DVD based mobile systems

with full conversion from the

old VHS cameras due in

2008.

Last year also saw the use

of average speed cameras

on the M4 during the road-

works between junctions 10

and 12. Collisions on that

stretch were down a third on

the previous three year‟s

average demonstrating the

benefits of using these cam-

eras in long-term road-

works. Furthermore, many local

commuters said that their journeys to

work were quicker with less conges-

tion—an added bonus.

Speed & Red-Light

Cameras (not Officer

Issued) 05 - 06 06 - 07 07 - 08

Offences detected 193,428 219,786 159,298

All NIPs 148,619 143,525 117,042

Conditional Offers 97,303 84,768 52,027

Paid 90,833 75,248 42,422

The new Tele-Traffic Concept digi-

tal speed detection system in use

in Thames Valley

In 2006 and early 2007 the

partnership went through its

first annual budget-setting

process without the require-

ment of submitting a business

case to the Department for

Transport.

The total amount available to

the partnership was

£5,898,540 based on the total

Local Transport Plan Road

Safety Fund distributed to the

nine highway authority part-

ners by the DfT, plus an esti-

mated contribution of admini-

stration fees collected from

those attending education

courses.

The total agreed budget for

„07-‟08 was £4,718,913, with

any surplus retained by the

contributing partners for lo-

cal road safety activities.

As a result of in-year effi-

ciencies the total spend on

partnership operations was

£4,245,457. Together with

a small amount of extra in-

come, the net result is that

£547,475 will be returned to

the contributing partners in

„08-‟09. The budget for „08-

‟09 has been set at

£4,506,945 although work

will continue on identifying

even more efficient ways of

carrying out the work of the

partnership. There will

therefore be a minimum of

£1.7 million retained by con-

tributing partners for local

road safety work.

DfT contributions from the road

safety fund will decrease by

about 4.3 percent year-on-year

for the next 3 years, meaning

the partnership will remain fo-

cussed on reducing expendi-

ture, whilst maintaining exist-

ing levels of activity. Clearly

this will provide a challenge

but already, new technologies

are being introduced help re-

duce workload, and improve

performance. An example of

this can be seen in the TVP

Fixed Penalty Support Unit

where a new system is being

introduced to allow online

viewing of offence photo-

graphs, removing the need to

send hard copies in the post.

Partnership Expenditure Reduced

07/08 expenditure review Budget Expenditure

2007 - 2008

Capital Spend

Total camera equipment and site costs £187,100.00 £127,718.22

Total vehicles costs £133,056.00 £110,680.82

Total IT and communications costs £15,660.00 £9,174.50

Total refurbishments costs £500.00 £0.00

Total other capital costs £14,000.00 £1,218.50

TOTAL CAPITAL SPEND £350,316.00 £248,792.04

Revenue Spend

Total staff costs £3,067,391.88 £2,575,983.82

Total equipment maintenance costs £435,003.00 £416,380.09

Total accommodation costs £208,766.15 £227,321.81

Total communications costs £141,500.00 £115,057.25

Total other revenue costs £516,006.46 £661,922.94

TOTAL REVENUE SPEND £4,368,667.49 £3,996,665.91

TOTAL SPEND £4,718,983.49 £4,245,457.95


The partnership has set 12

targets or performance indica-

tors that will demonstrate its

performance in respect of:

Casualty reduction

Enforcement and

processing

Education, training

and publicity

Efficiencies

Service delivery

These targets are monitored

on a yearly, quarterly or

monthly basis (depending on

March 2011 from the cur-

rent baseline of 92%

b) Reduce the use of

hand-held mobile phones

by drivers within Thames

Valley from the current

baseline of 1.7% to 1% by

March 2011.

2007 - 2008 Surveys carried

out by the Transport Research

Laboratories (TRL) show

92.2% of driver wearing seat-

belts and 1.58% using hand-

held mobile phones. Further

surveys will be carried out the

next operational year (08-09).

Enforcement and

Processing

Target 3

To undertake 7,200 days of

fixed camera enforcement,

Casualty Reduction

Target 1

To achieve at all TVSRP

speed and red light en-

forcement sites:

a) A 40% reduction in KSI

casualties; and

b) A 20% reduction in all

casualties.

Current levels based on data

to the end of 2007 show:

a) 43%

b) 23%

Target 2

Through enforcement, edu-

cation, training and public-

ity:

a) Improve driver seatbelt

wearing rates to 96% by

and 11,160 hours of mo-

bile speed camera en-

forcement per annum.

Figures for Year 1 show

7,598 days fixed (excluding

roadworks) and 7,225 mo-

bile hours. This second part

of the target has therefore

been missed and several

partnership management

groups are looking into how

this can be improved. The

principle reason for the tar-

get being missed was that

the enforcement team was-

n’t at full strength for the

whole of the year.

Cont...

Partnership Targets—Progress Report the target) and regular up-

dates provided to the partner-

ship management groups.

Monitoring performance and

setting goals enhances the

partnership accountability,

both to the contributing part-

ners and the public. Setting

appropriate targets was at

times a lengthy process and

they will be constantly re-

viewed to ensure they remain

challenging and realistic.

The following reports cover the

period of the last operational

year (April „07—March „08)

unless otherwise mentioned.

In order to asses partnership

progress, several years‟ in-

formation may be required

and therefore these reports

provide an indication of cur-

rent levels only.

It is not expected that all

targets will be achieved im-

mediately but significant pro-

gress should be made with

extra attention and possibly

resources devoted to those

areas where targets are not

being met.


Efficiencies

Target 7

To reduce the total partner-

ship budget by a minimum

of 4.3% for the financial

year 2008 – 2009 and to

identify areas of increased

savings in partnership op-

erations where there is re-

ducing workload.

Total partnership budget re-

duced by 4.49% for the next

financial year.

Target 8

To process 95% of Condi-

tional Offers through to

payment or court.

Only 92.8% were successfully

dealt with, although this repre-

sents an improvement of 1.6%

on the previous year. Further

investigations will be under-

taken to see how this can be

improved further through the

TVSRP Operations Group.

Service Delivery

Target 9

To provide accurate and

complete collision data to

all partners and the DfT no

later than three months af-

ter the end of each period.

This target was met twice but

also missed another two times.

In both cases the delays were

minimal and work has taken

place to ensure this does not

...Cont

Target 4

To undertake 8,064 hours

(90% of available time) of

road safety activity per an-

num using partnership em-

ployed Road Safety Consta-

bles.

Actual figures for the first

monitored year (Jun '07 - May

'08) show 8,034 hours and

99% of available time

Education, training

and publicity

Target 5

To educate 100,000 identi-

fied offenders by offering

and completing Diversion-

ary Education Courses for

speeding, mobile phone,

seatbelt and motorcycle

related offences.

A total of 45,635 courses were

delivered. This target has

now been reviewed and

amended to a more realistic

and achievable level for the

forthcoming year.

Target 6

To raise the level of

prompted public aware-

ness of TVSRP from its cur-

rent level of 13% to 25%

by March 2011.

The initial survey to set base-

lines was only carried out this

year. This means the next

surveys will show progress

towards the set target.

happen again.

Target 10

To increase net public sat-

isfaction with the services

provided by TVSRP from

its previous level of 16%

to 25% by March 2011

As this survey has only been

conducted once, progress will

be reviewed next year.

Target 11

To raise the level of core

partner net satisfaction

with the services and ac-

tivities provided by the

TVSRP partnership team

to 95% by March 2011.

The initial survey to set

baselines was only carried

out this year. This means

the next surveys will show

progress towards the set tar-

get.

Target 12

To respond to at least

90% of public enquiries

received by the Partner-

ship Team within 10

working days.

94.1% were responded to

within the set timescale with

an average response time of

3.12 days


In April 2007, five new posts

were created within the part-

nership for Road Safety Con-

stables (RSC) within Thames

Valley Police to be funded by

TVSRP. The purpose of these

officers is to work with and

support local authorities in

their road safety activities.

Their role is different from that

of other TVP Traffic Officers

who already work on the roads

in Thames Valley although

they will work with colleagues

in TVP on specific activities.

and they have a broad remit to

cover numerous traffic of-

fences in accordance with local

priorities.

Broadly working within their

own areas of Oxfordshire,

Buckinghamshire, Milton

Keynes, Berkshire West and

Berkshire East, these five offi-

cers undertake numerous ac-

tivities including:

Roadside enforcement and

education directed at

speed, mobile phones, drink

-driving and seatbelts

Press liaison on specific

road safety campaigns in-

cluding those directed at

vulnerable road users

Providing Dedicated Road Safety PCs Preparation of intelligence

-led road safety packages

for Roads Policing col-

leagues

Carrying out training of

TVP officers in the use of

speed detection equipment

Supporting local events

and displays through the

use of mobile exhibition

vehicles

Assessment of proposed

Community Concern en-

forcement locations

The majority of the work car-

ried out in their first year cov-

ered the preparation and car-

rying out of roadside checks,

often in conjunction with local

authority road safety officers

delivering education as well

as enforcement.

Geoff Barrell from Oxfordshire

County Council said,

“Our RSC is doing an excel-

lent job, carrying out their

work efficiently and effec-

tively”.

Chris Appleby, the Road

Safety Sergeant commenting

on the first year of operations

said,

“The team is a great tool for

partners to use to impact on

road safety, we are able to de-

liver offending drivers to au-

thorities for direct education or

use the criminal justice system

to offer diverted education or

punitive responses as appropri-

ate. Additionally the media

gain from the team has been

tremendous in selling the

safety message across the nine

local authority areas and

clearly showcases the great

work that is being done by all

the partners.”

Overall the work of the new-

team has had a massive im-

pact on the work of the part-

nership in delivering targeted

enforcement and education to

a nationally coordinated time-

table.

As you can see from the table

to the left, there have been

over 10,000 offences detected

as well as arrests for drink

driving, possession of drugs

and driving while disqualified.

Seatbelt offences 4791

Speed Offences 4551

Mobile Phone Offences 684

Construction and Use Offences 616

Insurance Offences 90

Driving Licence Offences 48

Drink Drive Offences 8


the attitudes and behaviour of

12,000 drivers; all of whom

had committed a speeding of-

fence; these were divided be-

tween those attending a speed

awareness workshop and oth-

ers who had been issued with a

fixed penalty notice.

The results were startling with

female drivers almost ten times

more likely to intend to stick to

the limit following the course.

Men also improve their inten-

tions to drive within the limit by

five times.

Professor McKenna outlined

why this could be so significant

for the future of road safety.

“If drivers genuinely accept

that speed is the defining issue

in determining how serious the

effects of a crash are, then we

can make much greater pro-

gress in utilising new and exist-

ing technologies to restrict

speeds and improve safety.”

The full report, is now available

on the TVSRP website:

http://www.saferroads.org/

media/pdfs/reports/

McKenna_SAAttitude.pdf

2007 saw the first drivers at-

tending our new „Call Divert‟

scheme aimed at educating

Last year saw the one hundred

thousandth speed awareness

course delivered in Thames

Valley.since the scheme began

in 2003.

There are now three different

speed-related courses; one for

those detected in urban limits

(30 and 40 Mph, 88% of

sites); another for people in

high-speed limits (50, 60 & 70

Mph); and a longer course with

a two hour on-road tuition ele-

ment tailored to those detected

speeding well in excess of the

posted limit.

Drivers may not attend more

than one course every three

years and invitation to attend,

rather than pay a fixed penalty

or attend court, is at the dis-

cretion of Thames Valley Po-

lice. Normally however, a

driver will be eligible to attend

if they are detected in the

ranges identified on the table

below.

A research report has recently

been published by Professor.

Frank McKenna (University of

Reading) highlighting the

changed attitudes of drivers

attending the speed work-

shops. The report examined

motorists detected using a

hand-held mobile phone

whilst driving. Thames Val-

ley are the only road safety

partnership in the country

offering this type of course

and over three thousand

drivers have already at-

tended one of the sessions.

The scheme aims to educate

drivers about the real dan-

gers of making a mobile

phone call when driving and

raise awareness among driv-

ers that this is not only ille-

gal, but is a significant cause

of crashes. Drivers are four

times more likely to crash

while using a mobile phone

and research by the Trans-

port Research Laboratory has

shown that using any mobile

phone slows one's reactions

even more than alcohol at

the legal limit.

Leading on Driver Education

Speed Awareness

Minimum Speed

Maximum Speed

30 Mph 35 39

40 Mph 46 50

50 Mph 57 61

60 Mph 68 72

70 Mph 79 83


http://www.saferroads.org/media/pdfs/reports/McKenna_SAAttitude.pdf



The road safety problem pre-

sented by rural routes is a

cause for significant concern,

with hundreds of collisions oc-

curring on these roads each

year in areas that are difficult

to address with conventional

methods of enforcement and

engineering.

In 2004 TVSRP launched the

Route Alert! signing scheme

on 13 rural routes throughout

the area. The signs have been

regularly updated to keep the

motorist informed if casualties

at specific locations and along

the route in general.

The scheme has proven, over

the three year period as-

sessed, to be highly effective

at reducing road traffic casual-

ties on rural roads, with the

most serious collisions being

reduced by 32% in the first

year after implementation.

The biggest impact was no-

ticed at the „Hot-Spots‟ where

more specific messages were

delivered such as „Keep Your

Distance‟ or „Watch Your

Speed‟.

The report and recommenda-

tions point to limitations of

the scheme in terms of lon-

gevity, as there does appear

to be some immunity to the

safety messages that devel-

ops over time. However, the

early returns and extended

impact at hotspots still makes

intervention worthwhile on

comparable routes.

One of the biggest benefits of

the scheme is it‟s relatively

low cost with each route cost-

ing on average less than

£5,000.

TVSRP are now looking at po-

tential new routes that could

benefit from the scheme.

For more information, and a

full copy of the report, visit

the website at:


information/route-alert.html

Route Alert! 3 Year Results Very Significant


http://www.saferroads.org/information/route-alert.html

http://www.saferroads.org/information/route-alert.html

year olds. The film shows a

group of young people on a

night out whose car is in-

volved in a collision. Mem-

bers of the emergency ser-

vices step onto the stage

and talk about their real-life

experiences.

Superintendent Mick Doyle,

head of Roads Policing,

Thames Valley Police, says;

“This campaign is emotion-

ally hard hitting and does

make young people think

about the consequences of

2007 saw the second year of

the highly successful Safe

Drive Stay Alive event that

has now been attended by

20,000 young people in

Thames Valley.

The programme is aimed at

reaching out to the most vul-

nerable group of drivers,

those aged under 25 who

make up a disproportionate

number of casualties (almost

a quarter of the total).

Safe Drive Stay Alive is a film

and theatre event for 16-18

their driving. People between 17

and 25 years of age are a par-

ticularly vulnerable group and the

aim of this campaign is to reduce

the number of young people who

lose their lives on the roads and

the families who suffer their

loss.”

Feedback from those who at-

tended the 2007 events was very

positive with almost 90% willing

to recommend SDSA to a friend

and more than 80% think it will

make them a safer driver.

Visit www.safedrive.org.uk for

more information.

„Safe Drive Stay Alive‟ Attended by 20,000

Seatbelt Anniversary Marked With New Campaign

new radio advert recorded on

a rollercoaster highlighting

how foolish it would be to

get on a rollercoaster with-

out a safety restraint, yet

people are making similarly

risky decisions every day

when they don‟t wear their

seatbelt .

TVSRP Road Safety Consta-

bles carried out extra checks

in February to get the mes-

January 2008 saw the 25th

anniversary of the law making

the wearing of seatbelts man-

datory for drivers and front

seat passengers. An esti-

mated 60,000 lives have been

saved since then but alarm-

ingly over a third of all drivers

killed on the roads in Thames

Valley weren't wearing their

seatbelt.

TVSRP ran a coordinated

campaign in February with a

sage out to motorists caught

not wearing their seatbelt..


http://www.safedrive.org.uk

The first year for the new road

safety partnership has been

very exciting and even more

new and innovative initiatives

are planed for the future.

Driver Education

Building on the success of its

speed and mobile phone diver-

sion schemes, TVSRP and TVP

have developed two new

courses:

The new „Young Driver

Scheme‟ offers drivers under

the age of 25 an opportunity

to attend a tailor-made course

that explores issues relevant

to them and combines a tradi-

tional classroom-based course

with an e-learning element.

The second course is aimed at

motorcyclists and follows the

national RiDE (Rider Interven-

tion and Developing Experi-

ence ) model. Motorcyclists

who have been involved in a

road crash, or committed an

endorsable offence will be in-

vited to attend.

In addition to the new

courses, the existing speed

awareness course has been

lengthened and modified with

new content added. Soon

drivers will also be able to at-

tend a course in Thames Val-

ley—even if they have com-

mited an offence in another

force area. An online booking

system will give offenders the

option of where to attend.

Road Safety Cam-

paigns

Safe Drive Stay Alive will re-

turn again for its third year in

November „08 showing at ven-

ues around Thames Valley.

This year it‟s hoped that up to

16,000 will attend.

Other partnership campaigns

will run around themed weeks

involving public advertising

and on-road enforcement and

education targeting:

Speed

Mobile Phones

Seatbelts

Drink Driving

Motorcyclists

Young Drivers

These campaigns will be run in

full cooperation with police and

local authority partners.

New Website Fea-

tures

Developments are being car-

ried out on the

www.saferroads.org website

to improve the quality and

amount of information avail-

able to the public. A redes-

igned mapping interface using

Google Maps will include not

only the location of all en-

forcement cameras, but also

the results of speed surveys

and collisions records for the

last three years.

Partners will be able to upload

data about their own surveys

and activities which will allow

anyone to see where speed

management is being carried

out in Thames Valley. This

information will also be a

valuable resource for

Neighbourhood Action Groups

and other road safety stake-

holders.

Cont...

Plans for the Forthcoming Year



...Cont

Innovations in

Collision Analysis

Having already rolled-out the

powerful „Headline Data‟

analysis tool to the partners,

the TVSRP Partnership Team

have secured £155k of fund-

ing from the Department for

Transport to deliver a similar

product nationally using web-

enabled technology.

Work on the MAST (Market

Contact us at

[email protected]

Visit our

websites

www.saferroads.org

www.saferrider.org

www.safedrive.org.uk

Come to our next

public meeting

Wednesday 18th March

2009

7pm

Maidenhead Town Hall

St Ives Road,

Maidenhead, Berkshire

SL6 1RF

TVSRP: Who are we? Core Partners

Bracknell Forest Borough Council

Buckinghamshire County Council

Crown Prosecution Service

Her Majesty‟s Courts Service

The Highways Agency

Milton Keynes Council

Oxfordshire County Council

Reading Borough Council

Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead

Slough Borough Council

Thames Valley Police

West Berkshire Council

Wokingham Borough Council

Plus other road safety stakeholders

Analysis & Segmentation

Tools) project will start in

summer 2008 with a new

dedicated member of the

team joining to oversee the

development and delivery of

the new national tool.

At the heart of the project is

the geodemographic package

pioneered by TVSRP which

has already been put to use

locally in designing new edu-

cation campaigns.


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