Foreword
The York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership Strategy Group Chair: Jonathan Foster, Deputy Chief Fire Officer - North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service
It is an honour to play such an important role as the Chair of the York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership Strategy Group. On behalf of the Partnership, I would like to introduce the new Safer Roads Strategy which sets out our collective understanding of who is at most risk on our roads and how we will work together to reduce the number of those who are killed or seriously injured as well as improve the overall safety of all road users in York and North Yorkshire.
While it is good news that over recent years we have seen a reduction in the number of those who are killed or seriously injured on our roads, we know these collisions can have a devastating impact. It is for this reason that we are committed to working towards Vision Zero, with the aim of continuously reducing the risk of death or serious harm and to enhancing the safety of all road users in York and North Yorkshire.
Our focus over the next five years is to work in partnership, gathering our resources and expertise to deliver a co-ordinated, evidenced-led approach which consistently improves the safety of our roads, reduces casualties and improves the health and wellbeing of all road users. We will continue to work with local communities and our wider partners to deliver Safer Roads across York and North Yorkshire.
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Roads are essential to our everyday lives, for business and leisure. Our roads are busier than they have ever been so, with over 6,000 miles of roads across our City and County, road safety has never been more important.
Road collisions can have a devastating impact on all those involved, as well as having a significant economic cost. York and North Yorkshire have a good record of reducing the number of serious and fatal casualties over the last 20 years. The rate of killed and seriously injured (KSI) casualties on North Yorkshire’s roads has fallen by 26% during the last five years (2015-2019) versus an upward national trend. The number of fatalities has however continued to be high during this time.
Pedestrians, pedal cyclists, and motorcyclists remain the most vulnerable road users and account for disproportionately high numbers of casualties across the City and County, which reflects the national picture. Overall, of all the vulnerable groups motorcyclists had the highest number of those who were killed or seriously injured in road collisions in 2019.
We realise that we have a challenge ahead of us, one that is not the sole responsibility of any single agency to address. That is why we are collectively determined to work as the York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership, bringing together the key agencies responsible for keeping our road users safe, healthy, and active as they travel across our City and County.
The partnership includes North Yorkshire Police, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Yorkshire Ambulance Service, City of York Council, North Yorkshire County Council, Highways England, and the Office of the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.
As a partnership we are committed to working together, to continue to sharing resources and expertise to provide a co-ordinated, evidenced-led approach to prevent deaths and injuries on our roads. The casualty reduction we have seen in recent years is welcome but there is progress to be made if we want our road users to travel safely without the risk of injury or harm.
Road Safety has a much wider impact than preventing injury. Improving road safety and the confidence of road users (including pedestrians) can also have significant benefits for active travel, improving wider physical and mental wellbeing, as well as improving community cohesion and environmental aspects. The provision of a safe environment for active travel modes for trips to school and work is even more important as the local authorities strive to deliver their commitments to zero carbon emissions.
As a partnership, we will deliver a range of joint strategic interventions driven by the 4E’s of Education, Engagement, Engineering and Enforcement, to tackle high-risk priority areas and improve the safety of those most vulnerable road users. By embracing the globally recognised ‘Safe System’ approach[1] to road safety improvement and to road safety management systems, we will build towards our long-term Vision Zero ambition, where less peoplewill be killed or seriously injured on our roads.
This five-year Safer Roads Strategy is a step towards our long-term vision of keeping all York and North Yorkshire roads users alive and safe. Supporting this strategy is an Action Plan that details the activities of the partnership and how they will deliver against the strategic priorities over the coming years.
Great Britain now has one of the best road safety records in the world - but five people still die on Britain's roads every day.
In 2019, 153,158 people were injured in reported Britain's road traffic collisions, down 5% on 2018 and 31% on 2009, and 1,752 people were killed, down 2% on 2018 and 21% on 2009.[2] The majority of fatalities (57%) occurred on rural roads, whereas the majority of injuries (63%) occurred on urban roads.
Motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians are still the most at-risk road user groups with the highest fatality and casualty rates. While the number of young people killed or seriously injured has continued to decrease since 2011, the number of people killed aged 60 and over has increased by 9%.
Road traffic collisions can have devastating personal effects, but also have significant economic costs from the response and care required to help people cope and recover. In 2019, each fatality represents on average over £2.1 million in costs to services and the economy, which could have been avoided had the collision been prevented.[3]
In addition, road casualty reduction is part of the public health agenda. In 2014, Public Health England published a key piece of guidance on reducing unintentional injuries on the road in children and young people under 25 years [4]which recommends three main actions in relation to road safety:
· Improve safety for children travelling to and from school;
· Introduce 20mph limits in priority areas as part of a safe system approach to road safety, and;
· Coordinate action to prevent traffic injury and improve health.
Speeding offences made up 85% of total motoring related offences[5] in England and Wales in 2019, an 8% increase on 2018 and 25% over the last five years.
Although 2020 should be treated as an exceptional year, and despite confirming an expected fall in the number of road deaths in view of travel restriction measures in place for much of the year to tackle coronavirus, new figures show the overall fatality rate actually increased during the first half of 2020.
However, the decade-long stagnation in reducing road deaths has urged the government to move towards an integrated approach to road safety, where road deaths and casualties are the result of multiple contributing factors. The effect of this approach would be to look at the transport system as a whole to raise standards and improve partnership coordination, so that preventable road deaths and injuries are reduced to an absolute minimum.
Covering over 3,200 square miles, York and North Yorkshire has approximately 6,000 miles of busy rural and urban roads. The Yorkshire and Humber region has witnessed a 12.5% increase in traffic across the entire road network since 2010, resulting in a greater diversity of road users and approximately 1 million additional miles being travelled each year in North Yorkshire.
International
cycling events have encouraged a rise in
cyclists.
Increased
online shopping and home deliveries have resulted in a rise in
commercial vehicles traffics.
The
move to more dual fuel and electric vehicles has added a new
dimension to the type of vehicles using our roads.
The York and
North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership has a good record of
reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured
on
these roads with 26% fewer KSI collisions in 2019 compared to
2015.
This is in
stark contrast to an upward national trend (Figure
1).
Safety Camera
Vehicles, for example have contributed to a 24% decline in
fatalities at KSI hotspots since 2016.
Between 2015 and 2019, on average 2,458 people were injured on the York and North Yorkshire roads each year (Figure 2), with an average of 417 serious injuries and 38 fatalities per year. Our focus is on preventing and therefore reducing the casualties that cause most harm i.e., the number of fatalities and serious injuries.
In 2020, the number of KSIs across our county was lower than in 2019 but fatalities remained at a similar level despite the reduction in traffic flow due to COVID-19. 2020 should be treated as an outlier year due to the pandemic and will therefore not affect our analysis.
Analysis of casualty and collision data enables us to identify who is at greater risk of being seriously injured or killed, where the most serious incidents are likely to occur, when they happen and why.
WHO?
There has been a downward trend in the number of KSIs across all road user types over the last five years, with the exception of a small increase in pedal cyclist KSIs in 2019.
Figure 3: York and North Yorkshire KSI casualties by road user type
Priority groups
Further analysis of KSI casualty data and road users has identified a number of priority groups which is where we will focus our partnership activity.
Vulnerable road users
Pedal cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians are disproportionately represented in our road casualty statistics. We know that the fatality rate compared to other road user groups is disproportionately high amongst these groups.
Between 2015 and 2019, vulnerable road users accounted for 51% of those killed or seriously injured across our county’s roads.
- Motorcyclists account for around 26% of KSI casualties but only form around 7% of the traffic on our roads.
- Pedal cyclists account for a high and increasing proportion of all KSIs over the last five years (14%), 17% in 2019.
- Pedestrians account for 11% of all KSIs. Half of all under 16-year-old KSIs were pedestrians.
Older road users
50 - 74 year olds account for a growing proportion of our county’s KSIs, up from 26% in 2015 to 36% in 2019.
Children and young people
Under 25’s form around a quarter (23%) of KSIs. Whilst there has been a year-on-year reduction in KSIs among young people (aged 16-25), KSIs among children aged under 16 remain static.
Business users
Those who drive for work or commute make up two fifths of KSI casualties in our county (40% of KSIs in 2019).
Men
It is of note that 70% of all fatalities and serious injuries are male.
Most of our KSI collisions take place on our rural roads, predominantly on 60mph roads (57%), followed by 30mph roads (28%).
Looking across the City of York and the seven districts in the county of North Yorkshire, each will have its own road safety priorities reflected in our Action Plan e.g. motorcycles account for a higher proportion of KSI incidents in Craven and Ryedale than in other districts, whereas pedal cyclists account for a far higher proportion of KSIs in York. The Action Plan will be subject to regular review, including engaging with key stakeholders, at a local level by the individual Partners to ensure that priorities continue to be appropriate.
The Officer Working Group will conduct in depth analysis of City and District data to identify incident hotspots, any patterns in collision locations and road user types most at risk to best target our Road Safety Partnership prevention activities and interventions.
WHEN?
Most KSI collisions take place in the day between 12pm and 4pm, with the number of KSIs highest on Fridays and during the Summer months of July and August.
WHY?
Driver behaviour is most often responsible for collisions with six in ten KSI collisions citing driver/rider error and/or reaction as the main contributory factors.
33% of KSI collisions occur on wet roads, and brake and tyre conditions can be contributory factors as well as driver behaviour. 1 in 4 cars are used with tyres which do not meet minimum legal requirements.
Excessive or inappropriate speed can be a factor in collisions, in particular its impact on severity of any injuries sustained. 85,016 speeding offences were recorded in our county over 2019, a 103% increase on 2018.
York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership is committed to reducing the number of those who are killed or seriously injured on our roads while keeping everyone safe.
Nearly all road deaths and injuries are preventable. Our strategy will be guided by the long-term Vision Zero, working towards eliminating all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all and embody the ‘Safe System’ approach. We will work together to make our roads a safer environment for everyone, whilst reducing casualties year on year. To achieve this, we need to share the responsibility to provide a safe environment in which people can move around and help road users to behave with due care and respect towards themselves and others.
Strategic Priorities in York and North Yorkshire
The Partnership has brought together local[6] and national[7] strategic documents and analysis of collision data and road user risk to inform this Strategy and develop solutions that best suit the needs of our community.
By 2026, we aim to reduce the number of those who are killed or seriously injured and improve the safety for all road users in York and North Yorkshire by working towards our long-term goal of Vision Zero.
The partnership has agreed to the principles of the Safe System approach and will shape a strategic outcomes framework around its four pillars:
- Safer Road Users
- Safer Vehicles
- Safer Roads
- Post-Crash Response
These strategic outcomes will help us to deliver our vision by 2026, and address the key challenges identified by our analysis.
To achieve these outcomes, the partnership has identified four priority areas of action:
- Education
- Engagement
- Engineering
- Enforcement
These
will focus the partnership on prevention and
early intervention activities, increasing
effective road safety education and engagement activities, working
with others to ensure the road infrastructure is fit for purpose
and that signage is clear and visible, and where necessary
targeting enforcement to deter or disrupt both inappropriate driver
behaviour and the criminal use of the road network.
Most importantly, we will always work in a co-ordinated and evidence-based way, being led both by our data analysis and by community concerns, while ensuring we maximise local and national best practice, experience and expertise.
Our Strategic Priorities are based on our knowledge of the issues we face, as set out in our local context section above. The Partnership will set a yearly Action Plan across the priority areas of action that address the fatal five and deliver against our strategic outcomes.
· More confident road users who understand and recognise risks, especially the fatal five and know the highway code and how to safely use roads and stay safer.
· Improved targeted, coordinated and evidence-based delivery of road safety awareness campaigns which reach out to York and North Yorkshire Road users and encourages positive and safe behaviours.
· Skilled road users who choose to use an appropriate mode of travel, act safely and within the law and seek to improve road experiences for themselves and others.
· Delivery of road safety enforcement and perception of safety are improved which reduce the fatal five behaviour.
Young road users: first steps to greater safety
Road safety skills are vital for young people of all ages, both for their own wellbeing and for that of others. What we learn, what we are exposed to and how we behave at a young age can remain with us all our lives.
Young adults: dealing with growing independence
Once children reach young adulthood with greater mobility and freedom, their exposure to risk, alongside under-developed awareness of danger and consequence leads to a higher likelihood of acting on impulse and peer pressure. The early years behind the wheel are the most risky, and too many young drivers and passengers are overrepresented in collision and casualty statistics.
Adults: staying within the law
Adults need to put all the "road safe" learning from younger years into practice staying legal and safe on the road. Continued learning to improve skills and to create positive role models to other easily influenced road users is essential.
Third-age adults
Older road users' knowledge, experience and skills can deteriorate with age, reduced on road activity and declining cognitive and physical capability. As the UK's population ages, it is crucial that older people can maintain the skills and confidence required to remain safe and effective drivers.
Safer Motorcycles
Ensuring that motorcyclists are equipped with the specialist skills necessary in order to stay safe on the road, understanding the risks, increasing protection and improving behaviour.
Pedestrians, agricultural vehicles, cyclists and equestrian
Recognising the potential hazards on the roads and immediate environmental needs which extend beyond the person in a vehicle and wider road safety awareness. All those using the roads must take action to ensure their mode of travel has followed appropriate safety measures or safety checks have been made, e.g., bicycle safety checks prior to travel and ensuring high visibility is displayed on the journey.
· York and North Yorkshire residents understand the benefits of, and proactively choose, vehicles equipped with appropriate safety technology.
· Educated road users who understand the importance of vehicle safety, who service and maintain their vehicle regularly, who understandthe roads and environment and make sure their vehicle is suitably equipped for the journey.
· More responsible business owners who equip their workforce with a safe and regularly checked fleet and ensure their staff are skilled in vehicle safety.
Fleets and people who drive for work
Employers can have a major role to play in improving safety on the roads through ensuring that their staff are properly prepared and motivated to drive and ride safely, and that they are using safe vehicles.
Safer Large Goods Vehicles
More than 10% of collisions involve Goods vehicles (third highest vehicles type). Improvements need to continue for the safety of Large Goods Vehicles to reduce collision involvement with vulnerable road users, predominantly cyclists and pedestrians, and with other vehicles as well.
Safer Motorcycles
Ensuring that motorcyclists are aware of the importance of well-equipped and maintained vehicles, particularly tyres, chains and breaks and that the use of safety features are utilised such as anti-lock brakes.
Automated Vehicles
The development of vehicle technologies such as automated braking systems, vehicles connected to highway infrastructure regulating speed and ultimately fully automated vehicles is expected to reduce the incidents of vehicle collisions. The development of safer vehicles has had a significant, positive impact on crash survivability. Whilst road user behaviour accounts for most collisions, the Safe System ethos identifies the need to make crashes survivable.
· Road engineering and signage that is appropriate to the road type and which reduces the risk of harm, assists road users to be confident on the roads and helps them to understand the risks.
· Reduction in traffic speed within the 20mph speed limit areas.
· Reduction in criminal and anti-social use of York and North Yorkshire road network in partnership with bordering agencies.
· Improved information sharing with one partnership data repository to gather and analyse road safety data which directs activities in high-risk hotspot locations and is used to respond to road safety complaints and concerns.
· Coordinated and engaged Community Speed Watch Schemes and members who feel part of the wider Safer Roads Partnership delivery.
· Planning, designing and delivery of walking and cycling infrastructure is improved which assists in making active travel safer and more attractive.
Rural Roads
A high number of fatalities on our roads occur on rural roads, particularly among young car drivers and passengers aged 16-24 years.
The Strategic Road Network
England's Strategic Road Network (SRN) such as A1, A19, and A64 in York and North Yorkshire has some of the safest of all roads in the UK, but there is still the need to continue to improve safety on them focusing on driver behaviour changes with campaigns around vehicle checks, tailgating, maintenance and commercial vehicle safety.
Urban areas and the environment
Inappropriate speed is an important factor in some collisions and influences the severity of injuries sustained in collisions. There is a public concern about the effects of speed and safety and by addressing collision cluster sites, the risk of further collisions is reduced.
· Enhanced coordinated partnership activity that reduces the number of those killed and seriously injured on the roads of York and North Yorkshire, keeping communities safe as they travel across our road network.
· Ensure that all districts offer equally high standards of rescue, hospital care and long-term rehabilitation following a serious road collision.
· Understanding the causes of serious collisions to prevent or reduce their reoccurrence.
· Ensuring that when there is a serious collision the response from emergency services ensures that the risk of further collisions is minimised.
Victims
Those who have been affected by road collisions, the injuries or fatalities that have resulted from these, shows the often devastating and sometimes long-term impact it has on the victim and their families.
Community
Local communities or specific road user groups are impacted by any KSI collisions and often feel the need to take action to make a positive change.
Vulnerable Groups
Initial analysis shows Motorcycles formed 7% of traffic but account for 26% of KSI casualties over the past 5 years.
Effective targeted action with enforcement and support of road safety in area such as Craven, where there were high numbers of motorcycle collisions with a proactive and highly visible approach by the partnership resulted in a decrease in the number of incidents. Biker down training would be helpful to ensuring motorcyclists have the skills that enable them to manage injuries in the event of a collision while waiting for emergency services.
Responsibility for delivering the Safer Roads Strategy will be owned by the York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership. However, this strategy aims to bring together the knowledge, expertise, and resources from wider partners to achieve efficient and effective results.
Community support is key to the success of achieving our outcomes therefore, we will work with our local communities and volunteers to help with delivery of our priorities in making our community safer.
The York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership brings together the key agencies who all have a shared interest in and responsibility for making our roads safer. The partnership includes:
- North Yorkshire Police
- North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Yorkshire Ambulance Service
- City of York Council
- North Yorkshire County Council
- Highways England
- Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire
The Road Safety Partnership reports its progress to both the York and North Yorkshire Community Safety Partnerships, as well as each partner organisation having its own accountability and scrutiny arrangements.
The York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership comprises of three meeting structures to deliver the Strategy. The Strategy Group sets the overall strategy and provides strategic direction to the Officer Working Group. The Officer Working Group develop and deliver the annual delivery plan against the strategy, targeting initiatives in accordance with local data, evidence, and intelligence. The Officer Working Group monitor the progress of the Action Plan and the Local Tasking Groups deliver local activities against the Action Plan.
Performance is monitored at the York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership Strategy Group and Officer Working Groups.
Figure 6: Delivery of the Partnership Strategy
The Partnership has several approaches which will be promoted at each governance level to help deliver initiatives under each of the pillars to achieve our outcomes:
- supporting more learning and training to improve and develop positive road user behaviours;
- increasing road user awareness; and
- further development of intelligence led enforcement.
In addition to the above we will work together to identify and evaluate new initiatives, including exploring best practice from other areas to ensure we continue to focus our efforts on our key priorities.
As the Partnership delivers the Action Plan it will draw on both operational response and road safety activities through an internal capacity review and assessment of options focused on resource additionality delivered through the national police uplift with the associated vehicle assets.
A Partnership Service Level Agreement will set out the roles and responsibilities of each partner in delivering the Action Plan and achieving the strategy’s outcomes.
In order for the Partnership to measure the impact of its delivery we will set annual indicators which demonstrate our success in achieving our strategic outcomes of Safer Road Users, Safer Vehicles, Safer Roads and Post-Crash Response working towards Vision Zero. These will be set within our Action Plan and monitored regularly.
It is important that we revise and refresh our Action Plan annually as the road safety landscape is constantly changing and it is therefore acknowledged that our measures will need to continuously evolve.
Following Action Plan implementation, the collision data, traffic speeds and feedback from the public and local stakeholders will be evaluated to determine the effectiveness of the interventions and strategy.
We will publish our Action Plan each year, setting out how we are achieving a reduction in fatalities and the number of those who are seriously injured on our roads. We will also measure how we are improving the safety for all road users in York and North Yorkshire working towards our Vision Zero. The diagram below sets out our strategic measures of success which will form the basis of how we will monitor our progress in delivering the Safer Roads Strategy.
Figure 7: Strategic Measures of Success
Due to the nature of road safety, there are delays between actions being taken and their effect on some outcomes being visible and measurable. We therefore recognise the need to identify a mixture of measures that can demonstrate both short-term and longer-term achievements.
The annual Action Plan will be developed by the Officer Working Group and progress of delivery will be monitored regularly by the Strategy Group. The Local Tasking Groups will deliver our evidenced-based interventions and report against the measures set. Individual partners will ensure that the concerns of local stakeholders and interest groups in their areas are incorporated into the reviews of the action plan.
- Organisation of economic co-operation and Development (OECD) & International Transport Forum: Towards Zero: Ambitious Road Safety Targets and the safe system approach ISBN 978-92-821-0195-7 OECD/ITF, 2008
- Reported road casualties in Great Britain: 2019 annual report, Reported road casualties in Great Britain: 2019 annual report (publishing.service.gov.uk)
- Road accident costs Great Britain 2010-2018 | Statista The costs are based on estimated real costs for lost output, medical and ambulance, police, insurance and admin and damage to property
- Speeding offence detection and disposal in England and Wales 2019 – 2020, Speeding_offences_analysis_2019-20.pdf (racfoundation.org)
- Department of Transport, The road safety statement 2019: a lifetime of road safety (publishing.service.gov.uk) ISBN: 978-92-4-156568-4.
- Department of Transport, Strategic Framework for Road Safety (publishing.service.gov.uk)
- HMICFRS,Roads policing: Not optional – An inspection of roads policing in England and Wales (justiceinspectorates.gov.uk)
