Agenda item

The Chair welcomed members of the West Mercia Police Road Safety Team, who were in attendance on Microsoft Teams. During the presentation the following was highlighted for Members’ attention:

·       The West Mercia Police Road Safety Team were based at Droitwich Police Station and covered the whole of the West Mercia region which included 4 upper tier Local Authorities. It was clarified that the team was funded solely by the funding from Speed Awareness courses and not from an existing Police budget. Members were informed that any revenue received from the enforcement of fines was returned to the Treasury.

·       All of the campaigns undertaken by the team were data driven and a specialist collision data analyst worked as part of the team to analyse the wealth of data available.

·       There had been 129 people killed on the roads in West Mercia during the previous three years and 1313 people had been seriously injured. In the past five years the number of those killed on the roads specifically in Redditch was 6 people and 111 people had been seriously injured.

·       The role of the team did not solely focus on enforcement but also on education and engineering including traffic management. It was explained to Members that the following groups were targeted in education campaigns:

­   Motorcyclists

­   Pedestrians

­   Cyclists

­   Drink / drug drivers

­   Young drivers and passengers

­   Older drivers

­   Drivers of HGV and LGV vehicles

­   Business drivers

­   Rural road users

·       Currently several initiatives were underway including the National Drink Driving campaign, ‘Dying to Drive’ and a ‘Be Safe, Be Seen’ initiative which, it was explained, was a data led campaign launched during the darker months to encourage pedestrians and cyclists to wear bright clothes. The campaign also provided free lights and reflective items to pedestrians and cyclists who were identified by the Police whilst out patrolling across West Mercia.

·       The West Mercia Police Road Safety Team provided engineering advice through the Traffic Management Advisors to Local Authorities and occasionally were also involved in planning applications.

The Chair thanked the West Mercia Road Safety Team for their detailed presentation and the Committee were invited to ask any questions regarding the information that had been provided. Members were pleased to see that the numbers of road collisions had decreased over the past year and were interested in whether these might be attributed to traffic calming measures that had been introduced across the Borough. The West Mercia Road Safety Team indicated that the officer that would have further insight in this particular area had unfortunately not been able to attend the meeting. However, they undertook to request the information and distribute to the Committee at a later date.

The ‘Dying to Drive’ initiative and associated event was raised by Members. It was queried whether there would be a possibility of holding a similar event in Redditch to the one held in Wyre Forest. In addition to this, Members questioned whether schools within the Borough were invited to such events when they took place outside of Redditch. The West Mercia Road Safety Team informed Members that Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue were the lead partner for the ‘Dying to Drive’ initiative and associated events and that schools from Redditch were routinely invited, however the schools were not always able to attend.

Some Members expressed concern about the rising numbers of e-scooter incidents in the Borough and whether there were any plans to look into increasing the guidance and enforcement powers. It was reported that this was a very difficult area to manage and that many of the e-scooters currently available were not part of approved schemes. It was also noted that there had been an increase in social media campaigns regarding e-scooters in order to highlight any dangers associated with them. Members requested whether there was currently any data regarding the number of incidents involving e-scooters and officers undertook to provide this information to Members.

There was interest from Members regarding the enforcement data available in the public domain in respect of road traffic collisions. It was felt that if this kind of data was more readily available to the public it might instil more confidence that action was regularly taken against those who committed speeding offences and were involved in road traffic collisions. The West Mercia Road Safety Teamexplained that it would be difficult to share this information in the public domain prior to court action in case it compromised any proceedings.

RESOLVED that

The West Mercia Road Safety Team Presentation be noted.