Road safety experts from around the world met in Birmingham on 15th February to hammer out ways to continue saving lives and reducing injuries on the roads in the wake of public spending cuts. Professionals from as far afield as Cyprus, Hong Kong and Nigeria, as well as from around the UK, joined the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents to look at how tackling the deficit will affect road safety.
Tom Mullarkey, RoSPA’s chief executive, gave the keynote address at RoSPA’s Road Safety Seminar. He focussed on the event’s overriding theme – road safety in a time of reduced public spending across the world – as well as touching on the more positive aspects of road safety that have emerged recently.
The Department for Transport in the United Kingdom is now committed to publishing a strategic framework for road safety by April this year; and the launch of the UN’s Decade of Action for Road Safety on May 11 shows that casualty reduction on the roads will remain a global priority.
Tom Mullarkey said: “With 1.3million people killed in road accidents around the world, and tens of millions injured, Britain must play its part in the Decade of Action. RoSPA intends to continue improving the UK’s accident and injury rate and we look forward to sharing our expertise and experience with other countries – as well as learning from their successes.
“In the light of reduced public spending, it is more important than ever that road safety is undertaken efficiently and effectively, and I hope that today’s seminar will provide road safety professionals with plenty of ideas to take away and put into practice.”
Robert Gifford, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) were among the speakers. Other presentations at the seminar included:
- Ensuring that actual problems are identified and targeted, rather than perceived problems
- Looking at evidence-based approaches to road safety interventions, ensuring that local authorities get the best value for money
- Using intelligence data and predictive analysis in the same way it is used for crime prevention
- How behavioural change techniques for young people could be used in road safety schemes.
Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at RoSPA, said: “We hope that that the seminar will enable people to go back to their organisations feeling positive about what they can do to improve road safety in their areas, in spite of reduced budgets across the board.”
See www.rospa.com/events/roadsafetyseminar/ for more information about RoSPA’s Road Safety Seminar, including a full programme.
YOURS and RoSPA
Last year, YOURS presented at the 75th Annual RoSPA Road Safety Congress in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK. As one of YOURS’ early appearances on the global road safety scene, the congress enabled YOURS to present their mission of reducing the amount of young people being killed on the world’s roads. YOURS continues to support the work of RoSPA in their field of road safety expertise and congratulates the organization of this seminar.