“The Sandwell Young Drivers‘ Campaign seeks to address the accident problems in a way that does not look or feel like a typical road safety campaign”

MOTOR CYCLE SAFETY AWARDS

MOTOR CYCLE INDUSTRY AWARD
Sponsored by The Motor Cycle Industry Association
For an outstanding innovation or initiative that has made a significant contribution to motor cycle safety

The Department for Transport has provided an outstanding commitment to reducing motorcycle casualties through the development of the government’s Motorcycling Strategy and the successful motorcycle safety campaign. The campaign has contributed towards a greater understanding of motorcycle safety in a number of areas through initiatives including: the Government Advisory Group on Motorcycles, the National Motorcycle Strategy and the TV adverts: “A Perfect Day" and “Now You See Him, Now You Don’t”. Among the innovative approaches has been the “Think!” campaign’s sponsorship of the British Superbike Championships. A Think! pavilion at every race houses a tea and coffee area, a BikeSafe information area, a bike simulator and an area where safety gear, such as helmets and leathers, are displayed.

VIP tickets to the BSB races and signed merchandise are offered as competition prizes in the specialist press, regional TV and radio. In addition, a separate sponsorship agreement with current British Superbike Champion John Reynolds has been agreed and DfT will continue to use him in a PR push to promote BikeSafe and safer riding.

Website: www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/campaigns/motorcycles/motorcycles.htm

The “Handle It or Lose It” campaign was launched to try and combat an alarming number of deaths and serious injuries that were happening to motorcyclists. The web-based campaign engages the riders, interacts with them and it subtly tries to alter biker’s behaviour. This is backed up by a superbike rider development course, a scooter rider improvement scheme and a professional media campaign to target and engage riders in ways and language in which they can identify. The Highways Agency has provided funding for the website which, through its reporting facility, has identified roads that are in need of repair.

Website: www.handleitorloseit.com

IHIE Guidelines for Motorcycling Improving safety through engineering and integration, which are a first in the UK, aim to assist highway and traffic engineers in developing safer and more motorcycle-friendly roads. Drawing on the expertise of engineers, road safety officers and motorcyclists, the Guidelines build on the government motorcycling strategy and demonstrate the role motorcycling can play in an integrated transport system. IHIE is the professional qualifying institution for incorporated engineers and technicians in highways, traffic, transport and construction, delivering sustainable transport for the UK. The Guidelines were compiled by an expert steering group led by IHIE deputy chairman Tony Sharp with Scott Wilson as editorial consultants.

Copies of the IHIE Guidelines for Motorcycling are available from: IHIE, 58 Russell Square, London WC1B 4HS E-mail: secretary@ihie.org.uk - Website: www.ihie.org.uk

THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING AWARD
Sponsored by Wincanton plc

A scheme consisted under the Improved Public Education category considered by the judges to have significant merit
The Sandwell Young Drivers’ Campaign is aimed at prospective and new drivers, seeking primarily to address accident problems in a way that simply does not look or feel like a typical road safety campaign. Sandwell says there is well-documented resistance to traditional attempts to reach this age group. The campaign is based on funky advertising and a magazine, which has been distributed across the country to nearly 100,000 young people.

Website: www.laws.sandwell.gov.uk/ccm/content/ councilgeneral/pressreleases/pressreleaseapril2005/young-drivers-campaign.en

FLEET SERVICE AWARD
Sponsored by Roxby Media

For a fleet operator or supplier to fleets that demonstrates an outstanding service, dedication or innovative product or service that will enhance fleet safety

The London Borough of Havering operates a mixed fleet of 220 vehicles. Following a successful pilot programme, using the Passenger Travel Service fleet of 45 accessible welfare vehicles and eight large coaches, driver training is now embedded in the culture of the borough and a programme of continuing training, aimed at new drivers, is in place. Training is also programmed for previously- trained drivers in those areas that present the greatest risk based on analysis of the most frequent accidents.This training is being provided in partnership with Peak Performance and the council is committed to assessing drivers using an on-line assessment package. Drivers who present a risk could be identified to targeted driver training.

Website: www.peakperformance.net

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY AWARD
A road-based or vehicle-based innovation that is considered to have significant merit

Jaguar XK

The all-new Jaguar XK is engineered to meet all worldwide impact requirements. Enhanced safety features play a major role, both for passenger and pedestrian protection, and the latter includes the introduction of one completely new, industry-leading feature – the pedestrian deployable bonnet.
Jaguar is one of the first manufacturers to meet Phase One of new European safety legislation using an active deployable bonnet system. The new standards help mitigate the severity of injuries to pedestrians in the event of a collision with a car. Legislation in Europe requires manufacturers to commit to a two-phase introduction of a range of active and passive safety improvements on all new cars to improve the protection of pedestrians in case of accident. In the event of a pedestrian impact, the deployable bonnet on the new XK automatically “pops” up a few inches, to increase space between the engine and the bonnet. This helps to isolate the pedestrian from hard points in the engine compartment and takes place in less than a tenth of the time it takes to blink an eye. An advanced sensing system is mounted in the front bumper to help discriminate between a pedestrian collision and other possible front-end collisions.

Website: www.jaguar.com

YOUNG DRIVERS

“The DSA has championed a more structured approach to learning, to prepare novice drivers for a safe driving career, not just to pass a test”

DSA is dedicated to influencing young people’s attitudes towards learning to drive. The agency constantly strives to make learning to drive more relevant to today’s road conditions, and those of the future. It wants to encourage everyone to value safe driving as a life skill that in turn will have a positive impact on road safety.
Part of this ambition is to instil in young people the right attitudes towards road safety and safe driving, and at the same time, raise the standard of tuition offered by driving instructors. To do this the agency has championed a more structured approach to learning, to prepare novice drivers for a safe driving career, not just to pass a test.
One such measure has been the development and introduction of a learner driver logbook, currently called the Driver’s Record, which is issued free of charge to all learner car drivers. Around 900,000 copies per year will be distributed. This logbook is an essential element of the structured learning process.

Website: www.dsa.gov.uk/Form.asp?id=SXB3F5-A77FDFC0&cat=162

Grampian Police – Driving Ambition
Grampian Police have slowly conceived “Driving Ambition”, which is a one-day event taken to 29 secondary schools, where sixth form pupils receive a day-long programme covering all aspects of driving and car use. Driving instruction is the only element of the initiative with a financial cost, which is payable by the school.

Contact: Sgt Alan Brown: 01224 386730

PUBLIC EDUCATION
North Lanarkshire –20’s Plenty

North Lanarkshire believes that speed reduction will result in casualty reduction. It introduced a 20mph speed limit in every residential area in North Lanarkshire in 2001-2 at a cost of £360,000. North Lanarkshire Council is still the only authority to have introduced the advisory 20mph measures throughout its full area. As part of an integrated programme of public education the “20’s Plenty” campaign has increased public acceptability of this speed reduction measure.

Contact Irene Morrison: 01698 302111

INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
FIA Foundation Seatbelt Tool Kit

The FIA Foundation for the Automobile & Society is an independent UK-registered charity which works on road safety, and environmental and mobility issues relating to the automobile. The FIA Foundation was established in 2001. Together with TRL, it has developed a best practice manual that provides seatbelt campaigners with one-stop information and advice, to inform and encourage local actions. This is a free resource. The toolkit is a very high-quality production, 125 pages long, A4-size printed on very high-quality paper. It has been well produced, is very easy to read and is an easy format to source the information required.

Website: www.fiafoundation.com/policy/road_safety/news/toolkit.html

Rotary Children’s Safety Village of Windsor and Essex County, Ontario
The village has added a new dimension to education. Previously, safety education was delivered in a very inefficient system that involved travel by police officers, antiquated teaching devices, more cost and smaller audiences.
The village now provides interactive programming in teaching road safety strategies in a controlled and safe environment. It provides police services, fire rescue services, emergency medical services and the Windsor and Essex County boards of education with a new interactive facility to deliver groundbreaking road safety programming.

Website: www.rotarysafetyvillage.com

Scania R 580 4x2 Topline tractor with box semitrailer

“A best practice manual provides seatbelt campaigners with one-stop information and advice”

Scania
A commitment to road safety has long been a recurring theme within Scania’s heritage and is today an integral part of the company’s strategy and brand image as it implements this approach wherever it operates in the world. In addition to safety design, innovation and improvement, the company commits itself to a large-scale commercial driver training programme and sponsors a major European transport conference where road safety is a central theme.

Website: www.scania.com

BP Safer Driving Programme
BP has implemented a Group-wide Standard for Driving Safety, which has been rolled out throughout all BP operations worldwide. The implementation process included a structured gap analysis which was carried out by each and every BP business, out of which local implementation plans were developed. Each business is required to report progress throughout the implementation phase and by the end of 2004, the level of compliance had reached 90%.

Website: www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9002301&contentId=3072042

COMMENDATIONS
The following have been highly commended:

Hampshire Motorcycle Initiative
In the county almost 32% of all fatal casualties involved motorcycles, but they formed only 4% of all vehicles. Led by Police Officer Michael Gear, a strong partnership involving the county council, the police and others has worked to reduce casualties.

Email: hampshirepolice@bikesafe.co.uk

BikeKraft Rider Improvement Scheme
PC John Spencer (Casualty Reduction Officer) and Nicole Short (Road Safety Officer, Northamptonshire County Council) have developed and launched this scheme, which harnesses the skills and experience of a number of partners, as well as utilising police advanced riders.

Contact: Nicole Short 01604 654454
E-mail: nshort@northamptonshire.gov.uk

How are YOU driving?
This major driver education and casualty reduction effort comes from West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership. It was aimed principally at young male drivers, as this group features predominantly and repeatedly in casualty statistics. It was a six-month campaign of Party in the Park and two different road safety radio advertisements. At the same time, running concurrently, was an exposé to local journalists and news editors, as well as an exposé to the general public, to find out from all angles what they felt about road safety issues. The Partnership has also developed a special package to assist volunteer groups in tackling the issue of excess speed in their communities using the problem-solving approach known as “SAFRA” (Scanning Analysis Response and Assessment).

Contact: Philip Gwynne, Head of Public Affairs - Tel: 01274 437420

“Active members of the local community will join together to monitor speed at selected locations”

West Yorkshire Community Speed Watch Schemes
These schemes aim to share the responsibility for addressing speed-related offending between the community, the police and other agencies. Schemes will consist of active members of the local community joining together to monitor speed at selected locations with speed-monitoring equipment. Volunteers receive the appropriate training supported by local beat managers, special constables and the road policing unit.

Website: www.westyorkshire.police.uk/section-item.asp?sid=12&iid=979

Warwickshire County Council Road Safety Team
In partnership with and sponsored by the Warwickshire Casualty Reduction Partnership, the Team has launched a secondary schools education programme, with advice from the police, Highway’s Agency, approved driving instructors, Warwickshire Fire and Rescue, Warwickshire Road Safety Unit, the education department and local schools.
The programme provides students with the opportunity to consider the dangers, impact and possible consequences of driving at an inappropriate speed. Thirty-one of the region’s 42 senior schools have participated, with 6,750 students attending the workshops in the 2004/5 academic year.

Website: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/home

Liverpool City Council, Our Walk to School
Giant maps and a hard-hitting film have helped hundreds of Liverpool school children tackle road safety hazards. Children aged nine and 10 have spent two years identifying all the road safety hazards they face during their journey to school.
The project has been funded by the Department for Transport’s Neighbourhood Road Safety Initiative.

Website: www.nrsi.org.uk

Midlands Safety Camera Partnerships
In 2003, the eight recently-formed parnerships adopted a joined-up regional approach to future anti-speeding publicity campaigns. The partnerships believe that effective communications underpins the drive to reduce casualties through changing driver behaviour.
This research-based Midlands approach to publicity is unique within the National Safety Camera Scheme and was born out of a shared commitment to using education and publicity to its greatest effect and to achieve the best possible results from limited budgets. The combined initiative provides effective gearing of resources, which have resulted in a highly-successful and widely-acclaimed public information campaign.

Website: www.speedaware.org.uk