Agenda item

4a.  Progress on Road Safety in Barnsley Report

4b.  South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership Road Casualty Report 2020

The following witnesses were welcomed to the meeting: 

Paul Castle, Service Director Environment & Transport, Place Directorate, BMBC

Diane Lee, Head of Public Health, Public Health Directorate, BMBC

Stephen Campopiano, Programme Manager Public Health, Public Health Directorate, BMBC

Damon Brown, Network Manager, Place Directorate, BMBC

Benjamin Brannan, Senior Public Health Officer, Public Health Directorate, BMBC

Tracey Brewer, Head of Transport, Place Directorate, BMBC

Matt O’Neill, Executive Director-Place, BMBC

Cllr James Higginbottom, Cabinet Spokesperson Environment & Transportation, BMBC

Joanne Wehrle, South Yorkshire Safer Roads Manager, South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership (virtual attendance)

Scott Dernie, Head of Safety Cameras & Ticket Processing, South Yorkshire Police (virtual attendance)

Inspector Matt Collings, Roads Policing Group Inspector, South Yorkshire Police (virtual attendance)

Paul Castle introduced the report, informing the Committee that significant progress had been made based upon the recommendations from the previous scrutiny session and the road safety needs assessment. A road safety working group has been established with partners (BMBC, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, South Yorkshire Police, Safer Roads) and will focus on prevention by collaborative working to design and deliver road safety initiatives.  The group are currently undertaking detailed analysis to address local factors and improve travel safety, support communities and wellbeing.  Projects of note include the neighbourhood safety pilot based upon suggestions by Cllrs, with more to be done this year to enhance highways; and a pilot scheme to introduce 20mph zones outside schools to change behaviour which is now being analysed and reviewed with a view to rolling out further. 

In the ensuing discussion and in response to detailed questioning and challenge the following matters were highlighted:-

Data dashboards in the report show the number of collisions and fatalities at a regional level. Although it does not show information at a local level, members were reassured that the number of local fatalities is low.  Work is underway to break down collision data for the last 10 years with a view to providing data at a ward level.  Members of the public can look at a map on the South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership (https://sysrp.co.uk/dataportal) website to see where the hotspots are.

Behaviours and attitudes associated with hit and runs have been identified as an area of work to progress and will be a priority over the next six months to understand the cause and to inform communication plans. 

Although there is no specific work in the pipeline to look at lay-bys/parking areas and provision for HGVs, this is something that officers are aware of and need to develop a policy on. Work will be done to ensure that the local authority meets its duty and ensure that they are welcoming and safe spaces for drivers, including female drivers.

In relation to data held on collisions involving HGVs, the time of the day would be recorded, the class of vehicle would be recorded but driver shift patterns are not.  Driver fatigue relates to specific times of the day and analytical work is being done to understand the issues across all types of drivers, taking a holistic approach.  Public Health do work with employers to support their employees and will see whether enforced work breaks for drivers fits in with this work. 

Although the CRASH system records collisions, near-misses are not recorded.  As near-misses may inform safe systems, this is now being developed (technology advancement) and more robust information will be available in the future.  Many smaller collisions are not reported to the police. It is understood that there is a disparity between collision data on the CRASH system and the data held by others (insurance companies, health trusts) and this is an area that is being investigated. If members are aware of any specific locations where near-misses are frequent, they should share this with officers.

Although concerns were expressed about the quality of collision reporting on the CRASH system, reassurance was given that this is now more robust and officers have access to more advanced data than is publicly available.  If data looks inaccurate, when considering specific location and associated intervention it is quality checked.

The introduction of dedicated cycle paths across Barnsley is dependent upon funding, particularly from the city region.  Work is progressing and routes are being investigated to and from the town centre and to connect off-road to on-road routes. A strategy is being developed to encourage modal shift and move residents from cars to bikes/walking and member comments will be fed into the strategy. In addition, the cycle forum, who are their eyes and ears, will contribute to the strategy.  Work is being done in partnership with the Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) to develop an interactive cycling map and looking at ways that funding can be obtained.  There is no shortfall in the number of funding opportunities, but there needs to be a pipeline of identified schemes to develop the borough.  However, there is a process to follow before funds are released and this takes time.  Three schemes are going out to tender next month with a completion date of March 2023.  Other projects will then follow with a delivery date of up to 2027.

Although a cycle lane has not been included in the new gyratory at Penny Pie Park, a new active travel supplementary planning document will be introduced so that new roads and developments consider active travel options.  The emerging road safety strategy is complementary to the travel strategy and looks at all road users, not just motorists, and by making the roads safer, a healthier more active population will emerge. 

Road safety is moving towards a more proactive “Safe Systems” approach, moving away from the traditional approach which was more reactive.  In the past, education, engineering and enforcement has been the main driver but now it is prevention and education working across the Council internal and external partners . The South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership is trying to encourage better driver behaviour based on safer road users; safer vehicles (insurance & roadworthiness); safer speeds; safer roads (condition, lighting, drainage, barriers etc); and post crash response.  There are specific engineering measures that the local authority can put in place to influence driver behaviour and reduce the number of collisions due to driver error and these are being investigated at the moment.

The pilot scheme with elected members resulted in 47 suggestions being put forward for investigation.  Members can still put their suggestions forward for any areas of concern.  The key is to manage the road network effectively by putting prevention measures in place.  Funding will always be allocated based on specific criteria and has to be evidence based to ensure that it is in the right place and there will still be an element of reactive work that needs to be done. 

A pedestrian crossing survey will be conducted on Racecommon Road after the half-term and there are national Department for Transport (DfT) guidelines that have to be followed.  A speed survey has already been carried out in the area which did not raise any particular issues. Narrow pavements, particularly near schools could be investigated in the future.

Managing expectation is an important part of the work as well as public perception of speed and safety. Even if a road is thought to be unsafe, it doesn’t mean that it is, and a key aspect of the Safe System is try and manage those expectations , to allow limited resources to be targeted more effectively.

Parking enforcement is predominantly town-centre based. However, some Area Councils have commissioned their own service to look at parking offences in outlying areas.  More needs to be done to make residents aware of the rules of the Highway Code in relation to parking to improve safety for pedestrians and road users.

Parked cars in and around schools is an issue across the borough.  The local authority used to have a video car to enforce parking around schools but this was taken out of service.   The pilot of the school streets initiative was successful and the possibility of rolling out the project will be investigated when capacity allows.  There is a national problem with recruiting school crossing patrols and ways in which these posts could be made more attractive will be discussed at the next Barnsley Road Safety working group meeting and fed back to members.

There are different mechanisms for recording speeding offences.  Despite being very effective, there are no plans to install ‘average speed’ cameras at this moment in time. 

Speed Indicator Devices (SIDs) are currently out on site and members will soon be informed of the planned locations over the coming months.

A sum of money has been allocated from the Highways Capital Scheme for  £1.073M . Two SIDs have been purchased so far and from the suggestions in the neighbourhood safety pilot it would seem that the borough would benefit from having more to cover additional areas.

Traffic Impact Assessments (TIA) look at issues relating to a specific development, including motorists, cyclists and pedestrians and it is not necessarily correct to assume that an increase in traffic on the roads equates to more collisions.  Trends are being analysed and there needs to be a blended approach to get the balance right for new developments. Any new infrastructure is subject to Road Safety Audits, to ensure that is full considered as part of any new development

Members asked about the number of offences detected by the Police for using a handheld mobile phone whilst driving and whether these had reduced over time as in-vehicle technology had become more common.

Learning has been taken from the United Nations (UN) the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other authorities across the UK such as Transport for London, Transport for Scotland, Cornwall and North Yorkshire to find areas of good practice that would fit well in Barnsley.  An internal stakeholder review is currently underway with a stronger public health focus and work is also being done to look at neighbourhoods and anti-social aspects within communities.

The Barnsley Road Safety working group is a relatively new group and is still evolving but the membership can be extended if necessary to capture the views of motorists and cyclists.

RESOLVED that: 

(i)         Witnesses be thanked for their attendance and contribution

(ii)        Members note the report

(iii)       Witnesses provide regional comparator data for the number of people killed and seriously injured on roads

(iv)       Witnesses provide data at a ward level when it becomes available

(v)        Witnesses develop a policy for provision of facilities for HGV drivers and ensure that the local authority meets its duty to ensure that they are welcoming and safe spaces for drivers, including female drivers

(vi)       Witnesses investigate how the work of Public Health can influence employers to ensure that employees take appropriate work breaks when driving vehicles

(vii)      Members to share information relating to near-misses with officers which should then be investigated as valid road safety concerns

(viii)     Witnesses produce a list of FAQs on parking to increase awareness of the rules of the Highway Code and promote via websites

(ix)       Witnesses investigate the possibility of reintroducing the video car to patrol areas around schools;

(x)        Witnesses provide information about the number of offences detected of using a hand held mobile phone whilst driving; and

(xi)       Witnesses to identify ways in which the post of School Crossing Patrol can be made more attractive to reduce the number of vacancies across the borough