Whole-route treatments introduced by local highway authorities to tackle high numbers of accidents dispersed over several kilometres of country road have reduced casualties by 30-70%.
Research carried out by TRL for the County Surveyors’ Society found that treatments introduced along whole routes – including engineering measures such as new surfacing and new signs, linked to education campaigns and enforcement – have been successful in reducing casualties.
The £30,000 project aimed to identify best practice on route safety. Rob Salmon, CSS traffic and safety chair, said that it had been time to review route safety management, which had, over 10 years, had ‘patchy’ implementation.
Early results from the research, due to be published in the new year, were highlighted at a joint CSS/Institution of Highways and Transportation conference last week by TRL cognitive scientist, Shaun Helman. His findings confirmed Salmon’s claim that ‘road safety practitioners lack the ability to evaluate the benefits of road safety education’. TRL identified that, in the main, evaluation of schemes ‘seems to take the form of looking at stats’.
He said that, despite local highway authorities aiming to change certain behaviours, such as close following, dangerous overtaking and driving when fatigued, ‘very little is known about the impact on these behaviours’.
Helman said: ‘There is a lack of data, which is a pity, because behaviour change is what we are trying to achieve.’ While route management safety packages were relatively low-cost and appeared to be high-benefit, ‘we don’t really know what is most successful in changing behaviour,’ acknowledged Salmon, calling for specialist training on driver psychology.
Patricia Hayes, Department for Transport’s director of road and vehicle safety, also speaking at the conference, hinted at the contents of the new post-2010 road safety strategy, due in the new year. She said it would be accompanied by measures ‘to grow the profession and to make it easier for professionals to do their job.
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