Cuts will cost money and lives
The IAM welcomes today’s report on road safety by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (Pacts)
The UK is now number one in the world road safety league, improving from 6th in 2007 and 4th in 2008. The number of people killed or seriously injured on Britain’s roads is now below 2000.
Each fatal accident on our roads costs the UK economy £1.79 million in lost output and health care. Every life saved is a direct benefit to society and reduces the number of families who will suffer personal grief from the loss of a loved one for years after the event.
IAM director of policy and research Neil Greig said: “Cutting budgets for road safety is a short-sighted economy. Meeting casualty reduction targets has halved road deaths over the past 20 years, saving the economy around £50 billion.
“Achieving similar targets for road deaths by 2020 will save 2,500 lives and over £4 billion. Investing road safety saves the country money so funding being taken away from this area will ultimately cost money and lives. The Parliamentary Council is right to call for continued investment in road safety and demanding casualty reduction targets.”
The latest provisional casualty figures released this month by the Department for Transport (DfT) are in a way a mixed blessing for us. They how all reported road casualties down three per cent, with a reduction of those killed and seriously injured (ksi) down by eight per cent in a 12 month period. The number of fatalities fell by 21 per cent, to 1,900, over the same period. Fewer motorcyclists were killed or seriously injured, down by eight per cent. All of which is great news. While I don’t take one month’s figures in isolation, the number of casualties has been falling for a while now.
But these new DfT figures also have a less positive aspect. I noticed that pedal cyclists injuries rose by three per cent, with the number of killed and seriously injured up by two per cent. That’s going the wrong way – albeit by a small percentage. And these figures don’t cover all the modes, either.
I would also like to keep an eye on the number of riders of small bikes/scooters killed and seriously injured. I predict that these casualties will rise too, because these are the cost-efficient machines that people will turn to during an economic downturn. But hang on a second: there are other reasons and motivations for becoming an advanced driver or rider, aren’t there?
While the crash stats are down, we need more than ever to evolve ourselves, focussing on the confidence and control we bring; the fun and enjoyment that goes with a better ride or drive; and the way we offer continuous learning and improvement for our members. If we don’t engage the public on these more aspirational themes we could find ourselves in a very small minority.
It’s too soon to assess what the impact will be of the various local authorities turning off their speed cameras to save cash but my suspicion is that the impact will be marginal, and of course confusing, as the figures next year are bound to be poured over and interpreted by both the pro and anti camera lobbies.
It may well be that the hostility to cameras is replaced by something even more worrying: apathy. If road safety is getting better, with the numbers of people killed and seriously injured falling regularly, then why should anybody bother to take an advanced test? Apathetic drivers are the least likely to turn to us. After all, a major motivator for those coming to us has always been that we are bringing “skill with responsibility”. The logic goes: better driver and rider skills = fewer crashes = reduced casualties.
A valuable steer we got from the IAM car and bike conferences last year was the need to find ways to make it easier for those active in our IAM Group Network to sell the Skill for Life course. That is why this April, as one of the marketing initiatives from our IAM business plan, we are commissioning a new, short format video for our website. It will illustrate all the benefits of taking the advanced riding and driving course with the IAM. Because it’s so much easier to show people than to tell them, we will design the video to be a “silent salesman” to help you too. It will be made available off line in a DVD format, so you can show it anywhere you have access to a computer. So when a possible new associate asks what is involved, you will be able to show them the video. There is one on the IAM website now, but it is getting on a bit, as it was originally introduced to mark the IAM’s 50th anniversary in 2006. Do you have footage you could share for this new video? Or links from our website to yours, with good, illustrative footage? If so please drop me a line at ceo@iam.org.
Our next research report from IAM policy and research is delving into an often overlooked area of police crash information. Not many people know that the police investigating a crash have 77 contributory factors to choose from when making an initial diagnosis of why and how a road accident has occurred, Neil Greig writes.
Policy and research division has commissioned Jean Hopkin, the author of a number of our award winning reports, to undertake a full analysis of these factors since their inception in 2005. Contributory factors were introduced to assist in determining those measures that would help to reduce crashes. Our new report will show that the vast majority of crashes are caused by driver and rider error pointing clearly to a need to improve driving standards, which is where the IAM can really make a difference. The full report will be launched in April but early analysis shows that “failed to look properly” is the top reason for crashes, appearing in 355 of all crashes. Excessive speeding is a significant factor in fatal crashes (13.9%) but in total actually breaking the speed limit is well down the league table of shame at only 5.2% of all accidents.
Vehicle defects were to blame in only 1.9% of all accidents and impairment or distraction in only 11.7%. As well as showing the breakdown of all 77 codes the report will give ‘top tens’ for each of the following topic areas; road class (motorway/local etc), urban and rural, by speed limit, time of day, day of week, season and driver age. It also looks at men versus women and will have a section on motorcycling. In each section there are subtle differences which we can use to tailor our products and campaigns but the overarching message is that human error is the main cause of death and injury on our roads.
No surprise there then, but with a focus on safer cars and safer roads in the past few decades, the time is now right for a full shift in attention from government and professionals to safer drivers and riders.