County to overhaul road safety by promoting closer partnerships

Paul Whitehouse

PLANS have been devised for an overhaul of road safety work across South Yorkshire which is intended to put the region at the forefront of developments in the area nationally.

Several different bodies play a role in reducing road casualties in the county, from police and the safety camera partnership to council designers who construct roads and others involved in education and other related matters.

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The county is already on course to meet its targets for reducing the numbers of people who are killed or seriously hurt as a result of road collisions, but a review has been carried out and that identified weaknesses in the way the different bodies work together.

It concluded that more benefits could be gained from closer working partnerships and it has now been decided a manager should be appointed to oversee that work.

Part of that manager’s role will be to “help ‘position’ South Yorkshire on the national stage”.

The change will be considered by members of the Integrated Transport Authority, which oversees public transport in the county, later this week.

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The costs of the appointment are to be found from making “efficiency savings” elsewhere within the safety camera partnership, the body which operates roadside and mobile speed cameras.

The role of the manager will be demanding, with an expectation of “developing partnerships with “excellent” rated areas and helping to develop new regional and national policies on road safety matters.”

Initially, the role will last for two years and if it is approved it is expected the changes will be made in the early part of this year, with a review of its success anticipated before the start of 2011.

A report to the authority, which is made up of councillors from all four South Yorkshire councils, states: “In reviewing current arrangements, it was clear there are a number of significant weaknesses and gaps within current operations.

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“The safer roads elements of Engineering, Education and Enforcement are not as effectively co-ordinated as they might be in a meaningful strategy or implementation plan across South Yorkshire and subsequent linking in with regional and national agendas.”

The review found the safety camera partnership was “outside” the work of other operations working towards road safety improvements.

“As a consequence, opportunities for maximising impact or targeting resources to particular groups or routes are not always maximised,” said the report.

The proposed new structure is designed to reflect the way police are organised, so different groups can more easily understand the roles played by others.

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At present, it is believed the level of communication between those involved in setting road safety strategies and the organisations expected to implement that work could be improved.

“It is felt that these changes to the existing relatively ad hoc arrangements will provide more focused policies, a clearer strategic lead, better co-ordination amongst various agencies and facilitate improved communication and direction between the various layers of activity, all leading to better outcomes mainly safer roads and transport within South Yorkshire,” said the report.

It is expected that over time the changes implemented by a manager could become embedded within the structure, meaning the job would not be necessary as a permanent change.

All local authorities work towards Government targets to reduce the number of road casualties, through areas such as improved road design and educating road users about hazards.

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