ROADSAFE - A Partnership in Road Safety

The safer driver’s companion

Following the positive response to its Glove Box Buddy™ driver education tool, West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership has launched a follow-up under the Glove Box Buddy™ brand, a bespoke driver’s organiser called The Safer Driver’s Companion™

The Safer Driver’s Companion™ has been designed to reinforce safe driving habits and so reduce the chances of being involved in a crash.

It aims to:

Put safety camera information directly into the hands – literally – of key audiences of drivers
Reinforce good speed-observance habits, which will lead to safer roads for all
Educate drivers about use of and locations of speed control safety cameras in West Yorkshire

It enables drivers to keep records of:

mileages
journeys
expenses
names and addresses
to-do lists
important dates and events
notes

Each tabbed section also contains valuable information, which it is hoped will aid the driver’s safety. For example, on speed control safety cameras, it explains the rules about where cameras can – and can’t – go, making sure the cameras can be seen, and how cameras help reduce speeding, the leading contributory factor in fatal crashes and the most common type of anti-social behaviour.

“The Partnership wanted to ‘get inside’ the driver’s thinking while they were diplaying this renewed/ improved driver behaviour

The Safer Driver’s Companion™ also includes a list of every fixed and mobile camera enforcement location across the whole of West Yorkshire. An anthropomorphised camera character was also created – “Captain Camera” – to add a lighter touch to the information. Launched in September this year, to coincide with the new vehicle registrations, the main target audience for The Safer Driver’s Companion™ is people who had just bought a new/replacement car, or are planning to. People who are planning to trade in their old car tend to drive it (and look after it) with extra care and attention, so it will attract the highest possible trade-in value. And they usually drive their new car especially carefully and safely in the first few weeks of ownership.

Through The Safer Driver’s Companion™, West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership wanted to “get inside” the driver’s thinking while they were displaying this renewed/improved driver behaviour. It was felt they would be especially receptive to the safety cameras and road safety messages delivered by means of a high perceived value gift – and, as a consequence, would be encouraged to adopt improved driver behaviour for longer.

Requests for The Safer Driver’s Companion™ actually came in from the public via the partnership’s website before it was even manufactured and available. Leading regional car retailer Sunwin distributed it through its eight Yorkshire showrooms so that it could be delivered directly into the hands of drivers. Quantities were also given to other local road safety bodies for onward distribution.

Early feedback has been positive and enthusiastic and there have been requests to copy it. So, West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership, as the copyright holder, has entered into an agreement with the manufacturer, which allows other organisations to produce their own versions. Use of the Glove Box Buddy™ and The Safer Driver’s Companion™ trademarks and the organiser’s contents are available under licence.

For more information, contact Philip Gwynne at West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership Tel: 01274 437420

Hard-hitting ads highlight rise in teen driver deaths

A series of controversial and hard-hitting public service broadcasts has gone out in Yorkshire. The severe ads were banned by some radio stations for fear that the sombre message would upset their audience. But Galaxy Yorkshire agreed to air them in a bid to draw attention to road safety

The “screamer” campaign is originated by West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership. One ad features a young male character describing his ex-girlfriend who’s been involved in a speed-related crash. The other features a mother character talking about what happened to her son following a high-speed collision.

Philip Gwynne, West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership’s Head of Public Affairs, who wrote the ads, admits they are designed to shock. “They are aimed primarily at young male drivers who enjoy the thrill of driving fast and who are disproportionately represented in the killed and seriously injured statistics.” Research showed that this group was largely “untouched” by conventional road safety messages. They tended not to accept or care that their driving posed a risk to themselves and others. And they resented being “told how to drive”. They did, however, engage with messages that were graphic and hard-hitting. The “screamer” ads were tested on a live audience before being adapted into public service messages for radio.

“Young male drivers tended not to accept or care that their driving posed a risk to themselves and others”

Philip Gwynne’s previous public service announcements have won a string of regional, national and international awards, including the 2005 UK radio ad of the year. The ads are in response to new figures that show young male drivers and their passengers are the most likely victims of fatal road smashes in West Yorkshire through reckless and illegal driving. There were 64 incidents involving 70 fatalities across West Yorkshire between January-August 2006, including one triple and four double deaths. The majority involved casualties aged 17-29 and included drivers as young as 17. There were only six women out of the 64 incidents driving the “at fault” vehicle. The rest were young men.

The most common cause of crashes causing death or serious injury was loss of control of the vehicle. The peak time for fatal smashes was Saturday night/Sunday morning. Some incidents saw cars being driven at extreme speeds – including one car at 70mph in a 30mph residential area. The collisions stood out because overall road casualty figures across West Yorkshire had fallen to their lowest level for 40 years. Indeed, casualty reduction in the county is currently ahead of government targets in two key areas.

In March 2000, the government published its road safety strategy and casualty reduction targets for 2010 in the report “Tomorrow’s Roads: Safer For Everyone”. The targets to be achieved by the end of 2010 compared with the average for 1994-1998 were:

40% reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI)
50% reduction in the number of child KSIs
10% reduction in the slight casualty rate

As well as endorsing the national targets, the West Yorkshire Local Transport Plan 2003-2005 specified additional local targets:

a reduction of 50% in pedestrian KSIs
reduction of 40% in pedal cyclist KSIs

The current position shows that West Yorkshire has already achieved and exceeded two government targets and is on course to achieve the others. The number of slight casualties has fallen dramatically over the past 12 months or so. The rate had been falling steadily since 1998, but has accelerated its descent over the last two years. The current rate of 24% below the 1994-1998 average is more than double the government’s 10% reduction target by 2010.

The number of children killed or seriously injured has fallen significantly compared with the five-year average, to the lowest ever recorded in West Yorkshire and this has brought the child KSI total below the desired 2010 target (51% reduction against a 50% target).

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