Draft Road Safety Plan for Wales

The Welsh Government are reviewing speed limits on trunk roads,
and are encouraging local authorities to do the same for their roads.
(Pic : The Guardian)

Local Government and Communities Minister, Carl Sargeant (Lab, Alyn & Deeside), recently launched the Welsh Government's Draft Road Safety Plan. A consultation on the proposals is out, and responses are due by 13^th December 2012.

One area successive Welsh Governments can point to success is road safety – or more specifically, reducing road casualties. Wales now has some of the safest roads, not just in the UK, not just in Europe, but on the planet.

The draft plan sets the open-ended, but ambitious, target of zero road fatalities "in the future". They say it should be a "government aspiration to tackle avoidable deaths." It's hard to disagree with that.

The plan itself

The Welsh Goverment have successfully smashed every single one of their 2010 targets. For example, in terms of "slight casualties", they saw a 40% reduction, when they targeted 10%. Despite occasional spikes in road deaths (2003, 2004 and 2011 stand out as bad years) it's a downward trend across the board.

They want to "learn lessons from both successful and unsuccessful activities", with improvements in monitoring the effectiveness of things like road safety campaigns (which are not always measurable).

The Welsh Government and police will lead things at the national level, while regional transport consortia lead things at a regional & local level through road safety partnerships.

Areas of concern

Motorcyclists

Motorcyclists are said to account for "1% of road traffic, but 39% of fatalities and seriously injured." The plan says that most of them are "men, riding during the summer months."

I think everyone in Wales will attest for that. Although Powys is likely to be the hotspot, I've seen some really bad motorcycling, even in Bridgend. I don't know if it's a false sense of security amongst day-trippers - that it's "only Wales, therefore it can't hurt you" - or complacency on familiar roads.

Other road users don't help matters either. The report says that "motorcyclists aren't necessarily at fault for collisions they're involved in". It's the whole "Think Bike" thing, and it's probably poor driving that accounts for many (pedal) cyclist casualties too.

Young drivers

Young people (16-24 y.o) are said to be "disproportionately at risk of being killed or seriously injured....making up 23% of casualties in 2011." However, the numbers of young drivers involved in collisions fell by 41% compared to the 1994-98 average.

The Welsh Government already part-subsidises Pass Plus Cymru, a post-driving test course, that covers more advanced practical handling and theory.

Vulnerable road users

This includes : older drivers (70 y.o.+), children, pedestrians and cyclists.

Wales will have proportionately more older drivers in the future. Accidents involving older drivers are increasing too. However, the Welsh Government doesn't want to take older drivers off the road, only provide better assessments. They note the "independence a car gives them."

There's been a "significant reduction in the number of children killed/seriously injured in the last decade". The focus with regard children is, unsurprisingly, on road safety education and safer school transport. The Assembly passed the Learner Travel Measure in 2008 and the Safety on Learner Transport Measure in 2011, which set standards of behaviour on school buses, and will make seat belts compulsory on school buses from 2014. This is in addition to Safe Routes to School.

Although pedestrian casualties have fallen, they still account for 21% of all road casualties. Cyclist casualties increased in 2011 - and I've mentioned that before (Getting Wales on its bike). The aim here, is to improve matters through legislation – the Active Travel Bill – which I'll cover in more detail when introduced in the Senedd. Road workers and people driving for work are also included, when they're often overlooked. 11 people were killed/seriously injured whilst working on Welsh motorways or A roads between 2005-2011.

The Welsh Government want to achieve, by 2020 :

• A 40% reduction in serious road casualties and fatalities
• A 25% reduction in the number of motorcyclists killed/seriously injured
• A 40% reduction in the number of young drivers killed/seriously injured

Judging by their performance to date, they might yet do it, or even exceed it. It's very rarely you can say that.

Prevention

The Welsh Government favour reducing the legal drink drive limit, but they have no powers over that. Personally, I'd prefer a zero-tolerance approach - where you get reduced points/fine/mandatory training course - if you've been drinking but aren't over the limit. Unfortunately, roadside testing for drug-driving is in its infancy.

The Welsh Government are reviewing trunk road speed limits, and want local authorities to do the same for A and B roads. They issued new guidance to local authorities in 2009.

Personally, I'd want mandatory 20mph limits outside : schools, care homes, leisure centres and playgrounds. That won't always be appropriate, of course.

The Welsh Government supports UK Government proposals to raise fines for careless driving. Pity they don't want the power to do that themselves.

Despite jumpy headlines at conspiracy sites about bilingual roadsigns causing accidents, it appears the signs themselves are more likely to kill you than what's written on them. These pose a particular risk to motorcyclists. The Welsh Government want to encourage the use of "crash friendly" street furniture (signposts, barriers, lamp posts), which are now de rigueur on the Welsh trunk road network.

The Welsh Government grants, on average, just £10million per year to various road safety authorities. Considering casualty reductions in that time, and the cost savings from accident prevention (i.e. hospital stays, accident investigation), that's excellent value for money.

Conclusions

Would devolved criminal justice powers
make a difference to road safety?
(Pic : Via Flickr)

I'm fortunate enough never to have been involved in a road accident, but I agree that road casualties are avoidable – whether that's through better education, better manufacturing or simply better driving.

Devolution of the criminal justice system could give the Welsh Government a more powerful toolkit to reduce road casualties (I would say that, wouldn't I) by changing penalties for road traffic offences. I've said before that the learning to drive age in Wales should be lowered to 16 (with stricter post-test conditions). I've also suggested that devolving traffic regulations would be another powerful tool.

Having said that, perhaps contradicting myself, I'm personally in favour of having no mandatory speed limit on motorway-standard roads (unless explicitly signed/controlled like the M4 around Newport). I'll look at the road network in relation to independence at a later date.

Car manufacturers, anti drink-driving and anti-speed campaigns as well as strict EU safety guidelines, have all played a critical role in reducing road casualties. Successive Welsh Governments and relevant authorities (such as the police and local authorities), have been too modest about their own contributions.

I don't think there'll be a day where there are zero road fatalities, however the Welsh Government have gone some way to ensure that road deaths are tragic exceptions rather than the norm. For overseeing a dramatic decline in road casualties in such a short time, the Welsh Government and National Assembly should take a bow.