An interview with RoSPA
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) is a national charity which promotes safety and the prevention of accidents at work, at leisure, on the road and in the home. Through its wide range of safety education programmes and awareness campaigns, the charity has been at the heart of accident prevention in the UK and around the world for more than 90 years. Aspects involving road safety play a big part in RoSPA’s work, in fact, life began for the organisation in 1917 in response to an ‘alarming increase in traffic accidents’ in London.
Speaking to FleetDirectory.co.uk, Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at RoSPA, tells us more about road safety in the UK today and gives us some essential pointers which can help fleet managers keep their fleet as accident-free as possible.
Q: DfT recently revealed that road accidents have fallen 12 per cent in 2009. What do you think are the main factors which have lead to the drop?
A: The reduction in deaths represented another very large fall on top of that achieved in 2008. So, in two years, we saw a fall in road deaths of more than 700, building on the existing year-on-year trend of falling road deaths and injuries.
This really shows the value of having a comprehensive and evidence-led national road safety strategy, which has guided road safety interventions (enforcement, education and engineering) across the country.
Q:The new government intends to slash funding for road safety programmes, what effect do you think this will have on accident records?
A: Acting on road safety remains a statutory duty for local authorities and the challenge is therefore to identify new approaches, new thinking and new partners to ensure further casualty reductions are achieved.
It is unavoidable that public spending cuts will affect road safety, because they will affect every area of our lives. Over the next few years, we will need to find ways of delivering road safety with less money and making sure that the money that is invested is so done effectively. It is likely that evaluating road safety interventions will become ever more important and this is a good thing.
We already know there are ways in which even more lives can be saved, such as: implementing the recommendations of the North Review, especially lowering the drink-drive limit and introducing random breath testing; improving driver training and testing; introducing an extra hour of evening daylight all year round by switching to Single/Double Summer Time; and harnessing the potential of vehicle and road technology to make driving safer and more fuel efficient.
Q: What is your view on the decommissioning of speed cameras as seen recently in Oxford?
A: RoSPA’s detailed views about safety cameras can be read at www.rospa.com/roadsafety/policy/statements/safetycameras-funding.aspx.
In short, we believe that safety cameras are an important and cost-effective method for reducing road casualties, although they are not the only method. It is crucial that spending decisions are informed and based on clear evidence and data, and crude, blanket spending cuts, such as making a quick decision to decommission safety cameras, are not imposed.
We appeal to both central government and local authorities to carefully examine the evidence of the effectiveness of safety cameras before deciding to cut funding in a way that means they will cease to operate. Getting these hard decisions wrong will cost lives.
Q: As fleet managers look to replace vehicles this autumn, are there any particular safety technologies they should look out for?
A: Employers should incorporate the selection and provision of vehicle technology into their managing occupational road risk policy so that risk assessment includes the benefits and risks of providing the technology, staff are educated and trained in its safe use and the effects of its introduction are monitored. There’s an ever increasing range of technological advances in vehicle design, which can provide a bewildering choice. Perhaps the most important ones from a safety point of view are:
Electronic Stability Control
Electronic Stability Control (ESC) uses sensors to monitor the vehicle’s direction and the speed of each individual wheel. If it detects that a wheel is losing grip and the vehicle’s direction is changing relative to that intended by the driver, it may reduce the vehicle’s engine power and brake individual wheels to prevent loss of control and keep the vehicle heading in the intended direction. Research suggests it could substantially reduce road crashes.
Brake Assist
Brake Assist is designed to enhance a vehicle’s braking performance in emergency situations. When responding to an emergency, many drivers do not fully depress the brake pedal and so do not get the full potential out of the vehicle’s braking system. On detecting that a driver is making an emergency stop, Brake Assist applies full pressure to the brakes, bringing the vehicle to a halt more quickly. Brake Assist does not activate when the driver is braking normally and vehicles with and without Brake Assist behave similarly in most other circumstances.
SatNavs
As long as they are used sensibly, SatNavs make driving much easier, more efficient and less stressful. The key is to ensure that drivers don’t blindly follow the instructions (we hear stories of drivers ending up teetering over cliff edges before they realise the SatNav is mis-leading them).
Adaptive Cruise Control
If drivers tend to make lots of long motorway journeys, Adaptive Cruise Control can help drivers keep their distance from the vehicle ahead. It uses a radar or laser to monitor the space between the two vehicles and the speed of the vehicle ahead. When necessary, it reduces the vehicle’s speed by controlling the throttle or applying mild braking to slow down, and “back off”, from the vehicle in front.
As well as helping drivers to maintain a safe distance, Adaptive Cruise Control has other potential advantages; for example, it may reduce instances of heavy braking in what should be free flowing traffic – which will prevent congestion.
Speed Warning Devices or Speed Limiters
There are several different types of Speed Warning Devices, which are designed to help drivers keep to speed limits. They usually give a visual and/or audible warning if the vehicle exceeds a pre-set speed. Some act as a second speedometer, and some also warn drivers if they are entering a road where there are safety cameras. They are often, but not always, incorporated into a SatNav. Speed limiters are gradually appearing as well, and can help drivers avoid exceeding the set limit.
Parking Sensors
Useful if your fleet has a high proportion of collisions while parking.
Whatever technologies are included, one crucial thing is necessary: employers should ensure that their staff understand what the technology does and does not do, and how they should use it.
Q: If you could change just one motoring law, what would it be and why?
A: If we had to choose just one motoring law, it would probably be to lower the drink-drive limit from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood (80mg/100ml) to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood (50mg/100ml). We have long campaigned for this, and earlier this year Sir Peter North recommended it following a review of drink and drug driving laws. Research conducted by NICE (the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence) indicates that such a reduction would save up to 168 lives a year.
Q: Tells us more about how RoSPA can help business manage the risks associated with driving for work.
A: RoSPA is a charity with road safety roots stretching back more than 90 years. A major story from our recent history has been our involvement in work-related road safety. With up to a third of crashes on Britain’s roads involving someone who is at work at the time, RoSPA has, for more than 15 years, campaigned for managing occupational road risk (MORR) to be taken seriously by employers and regulators. We firmly believe that MORR makes sense for moral, legal and business reasons.
In addition to our campaigning and influencing role, we provide practical help for employers.
Our services span the entire MORR system – from reviews of a firm’s current arrangements to risk assessment and a wide range of training solutions – both in-vehicle and in the classroom. Our emphasis is on developing innovative practical solutions, such as the award-winning Driver Profiler, a psychometric risk assessment tool, of which a new version – Driver Profiler 20:20 – was recently released. We also present MORR awards as part of the annual RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Awards, recognising firms that are committed to continuous improvement in this sphere.
Complementing our paid-for services, we also have a wide range of free resources for employers, which can be accessed at www.rospa.com/roadsafety/resources/employers/. One of our most recently-created free resources is a downloadable workshop pack for firms that want to help their young drivers stay safe on the road. This was created following our groundbreaking Young Drivers at Work research project, which was funded by the Department for Transport.
Q: As the default retirement age is scrapped, fleets may be more likely than ever to employ older drivers. What do fleet managers need to consider in dealing with older drivers?
A: The first thing to remember is that just because a person is older, it does not mean that they are a higher risk driver. Age itself is not the issue, it’s fitness to drive.
Fleet managers should consider:
· Developing a policy of regularly re-assessing all their drivers, irrespective of age. This will help to identify any changes in driving patterns or crash risk, and subsequent training needs
· Ensuring that drivers feel confident to report any concerns they have about the driving they are required to do without being “punished”. If they fear the consequences of raising a concern, any problems may remain hidden until it is too late.
Q: As summer comes to an end, tells us more about the SDST campaign. How would lighter evenings affect road safety?
A: In the UK at present, clocks follow Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) from October to March and British Summer Time (BST) which is GMT plus one hour from March to October. RoSPA has been calling for many years for a move to a system called Single/Double Summer Time (SDST), which would put the clocks one hour ahead of GMT in winter and two hours ahead of GMT in summer. Complementing RoSPA’s campaign, a move to SDST has been the subject of a number of bills laid before Parliament. In fact, another Private Members’ Bill is moving through Parliament at the moment.
Reducing the number of people killed and injured on the roads is the key aim behind RoSPA’s campaign. The most recent research has found that a move to SDST could reduce road deaths by around 80 per year and serious injuries by around 212 per year.
The latest findings confirm earlier research which showed that during an experiment which ran from 1968-71, when British Standard Time (GMT + 1) was employed all year round, around 2,500 deaths and serious injuries were prevented during each year of the trial period.
The road safety benefits of SDST would be achieved because there are far more road casualties in the evening. Any increase in casualties in the morning during the winter would be outweighed by the reduction in casualties due to an hour of extra daylight in the evening.
Extra evening daylight protects vulnerable road users like children, the elderly, cyclists and motorcyclists, making them more visible to motorists. Motorists are more tired after a day’s work and concentration levels are lower. Children tend to go straight to school in the morning but often do other things on their way home, increasing their exposure to road dangers. Social trips are generally made in the afternoon and evening.
See www.rospa.com/roadsafety/adviceandinformation/general/british-summertime-factsheet.aspx for our SDST factsheet.
Q: You claim that ‘eco-driving’ can also have a positive effect on road safety as well as fuel efficiency. How so?
A: Fuel efficient driving – or “eco driving” – focuses on how improving a motorist’s technique behind the wheel can improve fuel economy, meaning that a vehicle travels further per tank of fuel. Ultimately, this means fewer trips to the petrol or diesel pump, bringing financial savings and reducing the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the vehicle.
Eco driving techniques overlap with those learned through “defensive driver” or “advanced driver” training, so there are also safety benefits for the individual motorist, his or her passengers, other road users and, of course, employers.
As well as reducing fuel consumption, some of the techniques also reduce wear and tear on the vehicle, cutting maintenance costs:
· Smooth driving – accelerating smoothly and progressively and avoiding heavy or sudden braking
· Systematic driving – planning ahead, which includes choosing the best route as well as deciding upon the best position, speed and gear for the particular road situations or hazards you encounter
· Good driving style – calm and patient, rather than aggressive and competitive
· Appropriate speed – keeping within the speed limit is essential, but you might also need to drive much slower than then legal limit for safety, especially when vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists might be around.
Q: How can fleet managers ensure that they comply with Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act and the Health and Safety (Offences) Act?
A: When thinking about the legal aspects of MORR, companies should at the very least comply with the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Essentially, employers must conduct suitable risk assessments and put in place all “reasonably practicable” measures to ensure that:
- Work-related journeys are safe
- Staff are fit and competent to drive safely
- Vehicles used are fit-for-purpose and in a safe condition.
Businesses should also be mindful of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, which, while it did not introduce new requirements, gave the legal system extra teeth when there have been serious breaches of health and safety regulations which have led to the loss of life.
Likewise, the Health and Safety (Offences) Act 2008 did not introduce new requirements. Rather it increased the penalties for non-compliance with the existing law.
The best advice is to ensure you have a robust system in place for managing occupational road risk, one that is founded on: involvement – of both managers and the workforce; the importance of risk assessment, which enables targeted interventions; and good data collection and accident investigation – to enable the common causes of accidents to be spotted and addressed.
See www.rospa.com/roadsafety/ for more information about RoSPA’s road safety work.
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1 Comment
My comments are about daylight saving. In addition to be the benefits for the leisure industry, how can MPs not listen when Rospa predict a saving of 2500 road traffic accidents.
Leisure Consultant
December 16, 2010, 5:17 pm.
