Agenda item

(To receive a report from Steven Batchelor (Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership), which provides an update on fatal, killed and serious injury (KSI) casualty figures for Lincolnshire. Further, it provides data on trends, comparisons and areas of priority)

The committee received a report from the Senior Manager for the Road Safety Partnership, which provided an update on fatal, killed and serious injury (KSI) casualty figures for Lincolnshire.

Members were informed that there had been 49 fatalities and 517 people seriously injured on Lincolnshire's roads in 2017, which represented a decrease in fatalities but a significant increase in the recorded serious collisions.

A proportion of the increase in serious collisions was attributed to the change in recording mechanisms employed by Lincolnshire Police. The use of mobile data terminals had meant that a higher proportion of collisions were reported in the serious category, meaning the statistical accuracy had improved.

The following points were made in relation to the KSI analysis and trends:

·       KSI collisions were more likely to occur in rural areas and causalities were more likely to be male.

·       80% of fatal causalities in 2017 were male and 20% were female.

·       20% of the fatal casualties in 2017 were young adults aged 17-24 and 22% were mature adults aged 60+.

·       In 2017, the number of fatal collisions that occurred in the morning had decreased.

·       Drivers accounted for the majority of fatal casualties in 2017 with 75% being caused by drivers/riders.

·       The majority of fatal collisions in 2017 happened in fine weather without high winds.

Members were informed that as part of the Community Speed Watch initiative, the council had enabled local communities to tackle their own speeding issues. Community Speed Watch members could now register to carry out speed checks within their parish, using their own groups of volunteers, with the use of 'reactive' speed indicating devices such as speed guns.  Volunteers required training before using the authorised equipment.

There had currently been 49 expressions of interests from Parish Councils and 113 volunteers were already trained on the use of the new devices. It was noted that 5 Parishes were already operating and sending out letters.

The Senior Manager for the Road Safety Partnership was pleased to inform members that Lincolnshire County Council had been successful in all three of its Department for Transport (DfT) Safer Roads Fund bids:

·         A1084, Caistor to Brigg (North Division) - £1,245,000 starting 2019/20

·         A631 (West) Middle Rasen to Bishop Bridge (North Division) - £645,000 starting 2019/20

·         A631 (East) Market Rasen to Louth (North & East Division) - £2,725,000 starting 2020/21

In addition, North East Lincolnshire was progressing with the A18 route as the lead authority. This bid had a total of £2,282,000 and would begin in the 2018/19 financial year. Approximately £300,000 of the allocation was for works inside Lincolnshire, between the A16 and County Boundary.

Members were invited to ask questions, in which the following points were raised:

·       Officers were unable to make a direct correlation between the reduction of Road Traffic Officers on Lincolnshire's roads, and the increase in KSI's.

·       It was hoped that the introduction of the Lincolnshire Police Safer Roads Team into communities, along with community speed initiatives, would ease the impact of the reduction of Road Traffic Officers on roads.

·       Average Speed Cameras continued to be the most effective way of reducing speed on long stretches of road.

·       In response to a question, it was clarified that there were no plans to remove the road signs which stated how many people had been killed on a particular road, as it was thought that they have an impact on some road users.

·       Officers had not found there to be any increase in accidents as a result of street lights being turned off. The Senior Manager of the Road Safety Partnership agreed to investigate the matter further and provide any instances in which a collision could be specifically related to a change in street lighting.

·       It was noted that within the recording of collisions, it was recorded whether the street lights were on or off.

·       It was clarified that the A1 was managed by Highways England. Members were assured that Highways England had acknowledged that a large number of accidents took place on the road, and were currently looking at ways to improve the road and decrease accidents.

·       The Executive Director for Finance and Public Protection suggested that for future reports, more information be provided on the actions being taken by the Road Safety Partnership to improve the roads and reduce KSI's.

·       Members were assured that officers dedicated a lot of recourse to keeping young people safe outside of schools and that they took the need to educate young road users very seriously.

·       Members thanked the Senior Manager of the Road Safety Partnership for the report and efforts made to reduce KSI's.

RESOLVED:

1.   That the committee considered the report and the comments made be noted.

2.   That the committee were reassured on the work being undertaken by the Road Safety partnership to reduce the number of people killed and injured on county roads.