Audit Commission

Local highway authorities are the key local agency for reducing road casualties, through both engineering and education, training and publicity (ETP). Councils have made a significant contribution in progressing towards tough national targets by 2010. Engineering schemes have produced high returns on investment, and many authorities are still looking for 100% first year rates of return (see section 4.3 of Andrew Evans' paper). Our report however argues that further reductions will be more difficult, with returns on investment likely to diminish. In future the emphasis will need to shift:

• focusing more on changing the attitudes and behaviours of road users
• being more sophisticated in targeting groups at particular risk
• in addition to still making the road infrastructure safer

Other local agencies can contribute - for example by working with groups at particular risk of road accidents. Proposals in the 2006 Local Government White Paper (external link) could make it easier for the council to take the key coordinating role. Pages on this website about Joint Working explore this issue further.

Framework

Our report, Changing lanes, contains a framework of questions, based on good practice across the country. We designed this framework for local authority road safety sections (and their partners in other organisations) to review for themselves. Because many councils can build on good progress already made, we expect this sort of self-review to be more helpful than very specific recommendations. The framework applies equally to engineering and ETP, but can be most effective when these are coordinated across local agencies, alongside enforcement. It has four headings:

• Analysing data better offers the opportunity to identify and address at-risk groups of road users and geographical areas for ETP and (with the police) enforcement. NHS bodies and neighbouring councils may have data that can help with this.
• Targeting actions on locations and people requires consideration of the three Es of road safety, balancing expenditure and systematic working with other bodies.
• Engaging the public can give clearer insights into how the road network is being used as well as addressing high-risk road users.
• Evaluating value for money is vital in assessing accountability and for informing future targeting. This will be more difficult for ETP but can have significant rewards for future work programmes.

Improvement questions concerning better management and improved liaison will help you consider the framework in your area.

The way forward

Changing Lanes suggests how councils can drive the agenda, making recommendations that local authorities should:

• review local arrangements for taking a strategic approach to road safety, bearing in mind the imminent changes to the funding of safety cameras and the increasing role for local strategic partnerships highlighted in the Local Government White Paper 2006
• work with partners to improve practice, based on the framework for improvement on this website, particularly targeting activity on at-risk groups and localities, and building on existing relationships within safety camera partnerships
• raise awareness among local secondary schools of road safety issues for pupils, and the resources available to them
• ensure local councillors have information and other support to help them engage local people

Better management

Council staff involved in either engineering or education, training and publicity (ETP) should use these questions to:

• review how casualty reduction work is managed
• generate proposals for managing it better

The questions do not cover technical aspects of road safety. For elected members, a separate set of questions is available.

Note: The questions below have no relation to any audit or inspection work by the Audit Commission.

Corporate strategy and priorities

• How strongly do the council's corporate programmes and priorities support road safety work? Where are there tensions between road safety and other organisational objectives, for example in development control? What do you do about them?
• Who champions road safety within the council at member level and at senior officer level? Do you support them sufficiently with information and briefings? How do they help you build links with potential partners outside the council (for example, the police) when necessary?
• Think about which non-specialist stakeholders can contribute to reducing road casualties - starting with those in Box 1. Do you have a range of material (strategy, policies, and so on) which explains to each of these groups what the council's approach to road safety is, how programmes are determined and priorities set, and how they can contribute?
• What information on road safety is given to members (during induction, and subsequent updates) to help them to scrutinise performance, set priorities and promote road safety? Do they see the links between road safety and other aspects of community well-being?

Using data and targeting

• What quality issues arise with data on road accidents and casualties, especially STATS19? What do you believe is the effect of under-reporting of casualties? Could under-reporting, for example of cycle accidents, lead to bias in your programme of engineering and/or ETP activities?
• What work has been done to look for demographic or socio-economic factors? Have you analysed whether there are any diversity issues that are influencing road safety in your area, for example are people from different ethnic minorities, or people with sensory or physical disabilities more at risk?
• Thinking about road safety data and geographical information systems, does your hardware and software have the functionality that you need for ETP as well as for engineering?
• Do you analyse data across a number of neighbouring authorities? Doing so might enable you to spot new trends earlier or understand better the causes of some accidents, particularly if yours is a small authority.

Reviewing the programme of work

• Which at-risk groups of road users is your ETP targeted at? Could better data or analysis enable you to target better? One possibility might be to use home postcodes.
• What is the evidence base for your major engineering programmes and ETP activities? Do your team keep up to date on what works - for example by attending conferences, courses or networks, or through desk-based study? Could they make a business case for spending more time in this way?
• Do you have enough monitoring information to help you review the programme of activities? (Of engineering schemes and especially of ETP, given that it is usually difficult to assess the ultimate effect of ETP on casualty reductions.)
• Which council departments or external agencies already work with the groups that you want to target? Could any of these communicate key road safety messages more effectively to these groups?

Improved liaison

Council staff involved in either engineering or education, training and publicity (ETP) should use these questions to:

• review how casualty reduction work is managed
• generate proposals for managing it better

The questions do not cover technical aspects of road safety. For elected members, a separate set of questions is available.

Note: The questions below have no relation to any audit or inspection work by the Audit Commission.

Working through other parts of the council

• Make a list of staff across the council who could help promote road safety as part of their day job. (For example, development control officers, children's services staff working in deprived areas.) What prevents these staff playing their full part? How could you communicate with them better and get them more involved?
• How well do service directors/heads of service understand how their policies and practices may impact on road safety?
• Are you making best use of council facilities such as reception and waiting areas (libraries and leisure centres) and promotional events? Who are you targeting in these ways and why?
• How do you make use of other council media such as newsletters and the website? Who are you targeting in these media and why?

Working through external organisations and the public

• The community strategy is a key document setting out how local public services are to work together (see Box 1). Could you make links between material in the community strategy (for example, on environment, health, or community safety) and road casualty reduction work?
• What support do you give to other organisations that have an interest in reducing road casualties (for example, with resources, information, support networks or funding)? Could/should you do more? How?
• What lessons have you learnt in recent consultations, especially over engineering work? (See paragraphs 112 to 131 of Changing lanes.) Did you give adequate feedback afterwards?
• Does consultation with the public cover the diverse needs of all sectors of the community? Within the road safety section do you need to run your own forums or can you use networks/communications run by other parts of the council?
• Groups from lower income communities sometimes need small amounts of funding (for meetings and publicity) to help them develop. Do you or other sections of the council provide any such funding?
• How do you make the public aware of your achievements and outcomes on road safety?
• How would you describe your relations with the local press and other media? Do the police, fire and rescue and yourselves coordinate your use of the media? How do you handle controversial issues such as traffic calming and safety cameras? Are the editors aware that it may be only a small minority of road users that are opposed to these measures? Could you be more proactive on this?