Revitalising road safety
across the globe
Revitalising road safety was the theme of this year’s National Safer Roads Partnerships’ Conference, which took place this week.
The event, which was hosted by Road Safety Support (RSS) on September 25 and 26, brought together road safety practitioners from across Britain and around the world.
Day two of the event coincided with the #ProjectEDWARD campaign - European Day Without a Road Death. To mark his continued commitment to the campaign, RSS Managing Director, Trevor Hall (pictured above right), received a surprise award from TISPOL at the conference.
Conference speakers included Nicholas Worrell, Safety Advocacy Director, from the National Transportation Safety Board, in the USA, who delivered the keynote presentation; and Katherine Williamson, Head of Analysis, and David Snelling, Policy Team Leader, from the Department for Transport, who unveiled the latest UK road casualty figures.
The conference was chaired by Meredydd Hughes, RSS Director and Executive Chairman, Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director at the European Transport Safety Council and Jeannot Mersch, President of FEVR, The European Federation of Road Traffic Victims.
Other speakers included Emma Kelly, Development, PR & Advocacy Manager, and Jan Sjorup, Data Analyst and Enforcement Strategist, from RSS, who encouraged police forces to adopt a more flexible and random approach to enforcement, increasing the threat of detection for motorists and therefore improving casualty reduction.
Michael Rowland, Director of Road Safety, Research and Driver Education, at the Irish Road Safety Authority, explained the strategic approach to road safety and the casualty reduction achievements in Ireland.
Delegates also heard from Michael Talbot, Head of Strategy Zenzic, about the UK’s 2030 connected and automated mobility roadmap; Richard Leonard, Head of Road Safety, Engineering and Standards, at Highways England; and Heather Ward, Honorary Senior Research Economy Associate, of University College London, who spoke about the gig economy.
Elizabeth Box, Head of Research, at the RAC Foundation, explained the Road Collision Investigation Project; Tracey Collins, Head of Intelligence at the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency gave the DVSA perspective; and Leslie Chinweze, of the Crown Prosecution Service and Andrew Perry, RSS Solicitor, spoke about the prosecution of mobile phone offences.
Other presentations were delivered by PC Abigail Bedson, of the Peninsula Road Safety Partnership, and Steve Callaghan, RSS Technical Manager, who spoke about Technical Traffic Investigations; Nicola Foster, Chairman of the Safer Essex Roads Partnership and Matt Hine, Road Crime Manager, at Essex Police, explained how data sharing contributes to Vision Zero; and Pauline Pateman-West and Det Supt Andrew Cox, of the Metropolitan Police Service, focused on dealing with high risk offenders through multiple data sources.
The event was sponsored by a range of companies connected to road safety and enforcement.
