The government’s strategy includes a 40% reduction in those killed or injured on Britain’s roads

“Research has hown that more than a third of ll road accidents nvolve someone at work”

The strategy set targets for casualty reduction by 2010, which included a 40% reduction in the 47,656 people killed or seriously injured on Britain’s roads; a 50% reduction in the 6,860 children killed or seriously injured; and a 10% reduction in the slight casualty rate, expressed as the number of people slightly injured per 100 million vehicle kilometres. Research has shown that more than a third of all road accidents – in total, this equals about 1,000 deaths a year and 100,000 injuries – involve someone at work.

In the first three years of the road safety strategy there has been:

• A 17% drop to 39,407 in the number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads
• A 33% reduction to 4,596 in the number of children killed and seriously injured
• A 12% cut from 61 to 54 in the number of people slightly injured per 100 million vehicle kilometres.

However, in actual numbers of people injured, there has only been a 3% reduction from 272,272 people slightly injured to 263,198.

The report claims that safety improvements have come as a result of a series of initiatives including:

• Banning the use of hand-held mobile phones while driving
• The national roll-out of safety cameras following a pilot that showed a 35% reduction in people killed and seriously injured
• The introduction of the hazard perception test to the driving test
• The good recognition and success of the Think! branding
• The new local transport plan process, which allows local authorities to adopt a longer-term approach and more flexibility in delivering the strategy and casualty reductions at a local level
• The continuing effectiveness of local safety schemes, where local authorities estimate that those delivered in 2002-03 alone would save almost 5,000 casualties

David Jamieson

“There is a need to encourage more employers to adopt best practice to reduce risks to their employees when out on the road”

In 2002, the government agreed with the Health and Safety Commission to a three to five-year programme to address the risks faced by occupational drivers.

The main focus is on working with industry to develop and promote best practice, raise awareness, intelligence and data collection, clarifying the investigation and enforcement regime and research and guidance. As part of the initiative, the Health and Safety Executive and the Department for Transport published the free guide Driving at work: Managing work-related road safety (Roadsafe: winter 2003/04). The Driving Standards Agency has also established a registration scheme for instructors specialising in providing training for employees who drive cars and vans as part of their work. To date, 355 instructors have registered.

The 130-page report says: “There is a need to encourage more employers to adopt best practice to reduce risks to their employees when out on the road. “As well as delivering casualty savings, this reduces companies’ costs in respect of staff absence and vehicle repair costs.”

As a result, the government says it will:

• Continue to highlight risks faced by those who use the roads while at work
• Continue to inform employers of the benefits and continue to encourage adoption of industry best practice
• Develop a toolkit to help employers to manage occupational road risk and explore with employers what else they would find helpful in this area
• Continue to work with industry associations to continue to develop a more effective training and assessment regime for van and bus drivers
• Develop and promote the DSA’s voluntary register of driving instructors specialising in fleet driver training

However, amongst the good news there are two major worries:

• No significant fall in the number of road crash deaths since 1998 – a reduction of just 4% to 3,431 people – with a particular focus required on car occupant deaths and motorcyclist deaths and injuries
• A focus on reducing the rising number of drink-related deaths and injuries, which has steadily increased and in 2002 was at a 10-year high of 20,000

Road Safety Minister David Jamieson says: “Road safety is everyone’s responsibility and we need to continue to make all road users aware of how they can contribute to making our roads safer for everyone. We have an extremely good safety record in the UK, but we strive constantly to improve it.” The Highways Agency says that its ultimate goal is “no accidents”, but to enable it to meet the government’s 2010 target in the reduction of people killed or seriously injured, it is aiming to reduce casualties by 140 a year by focusing its safety investigations on motorways and trunk roads where accident rates are above the average and to prioritise accident reduction measures.

“Globally, road safety ranks among the major killers. But many of these deaths are preventable”

In the spring, Agency traffic officers began patrolling motorways in the West Midlands to “provide a visible safety presence”. In addition, they were given the task of removing obstructions such as debris, arrange the safe recovery of stationary, broken down or abandoned vehicles, contribute to reducing long delays resulting in fewer accidents and collecting information at the scene of a crash to contribute towards preventing future accidents. So far, more than 200 people have been recruited to undertake the new traffic management roles, with 1,000 traffic officers and 200 control room staff to be recruited by 2005.

Road traffic injuries were a major but neglected public health challenge that required concerted efforts for effective and sustainable prevention, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) as it launched the first major global report on road traffic injury prevention. Entitled The World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention, it revealed that road accidents were now responsible for more deaths globally than war or HIV. Only heart disease and depression can be blamed for more loss of life.

Worldwide, an estimated 1.2 million people are killed in road crashes each year and as many as 50 million are injured. Road crashes are the second leading cause of death globally among young people aged five to 29 and the third leading cause of death among people aged 30 to 44 years. Projections indicate that these figures will increase by about 65% over the next 20 years unless there is new commitment to prevention, claims the report, which adds: “Nevertheless, the tragedy behind these figures attracts less mass-media attention than other, less frequent types of tragedy.”

Mr Jamieson says: “We have some very good practices, which we are sharing, around the world to reduce the high levels of road casualties in other countries. “Globally, road safety ranks among the major killers. But many of these deaths are preventable and we all need to make a concerted effort now to ensure that the worrying predictions in the rise of road deaths and injuries doesn’t become a reality.” Like the British government, the WHO contends that the level of road traffic injury is unacceptable and that it is largely avoidable.

The WHO prefaces its road traffic injury prevention report with the words of the coroner who investigated the world’s first road traffic death in 1896. “This must never happen again” he said, little suspecting that 108 years later, 1.2 million people would be dying every year on the world’s roads. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, says: “The key to successful prevention lies in the commitment of all relevant sectors, public and private – health, transport, education, finance, police, legislators, manufacturers, foundations and the media – to make road safety happen.”

“Ford has subjected its vehicles to an extensive testing programme far more stringent than the minimum legal requirements”

And Lee Jong-wook, Director-General of WHO, says: “We must use every day to act on road safety, and implement effective sustainable action to prevent injury and death on the world’s roads.” Although about 90% of the annual deaths occur in poorer countries, there remains much to be done in the so-called richer nations, such as Britain, to improve road safety. In high income countries, most victims and survivors are vehicle occupants. However, in low income and middle income countries in Asia the vast majority are cyclists and motorcyclists. In Africa and South America, they are mostly pedestrians and users of public transportation.

Dr Annan adds: “Yet most of this loss can be prevented – by tackling dangerous driving, such as speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol; by promoting the use of helmets and seatbelts; by ensuring that people walking and cycling are more visible; by improving the design of roads and vehicles; by enforcing road safety regulations; and by improving emergency response services.”

Dr Alberto Concha-Eastman, who is based in Washington for the WHO, says: “We are convinced that these deaths could be prevented. It is a local and a global problem.”

The Department for Transport’s report “Tomorrow’s Roads Safer for Everyone:
The First Three-Year Review” is available at www.dft.gov.uk