10.2 Lancashire Road Safety Partnership

We will work with partners to make the most effective contribution to reducing road casualties

The Partnership has made a significant contribution to casualty reduction since it was established in 2001. The  partners are the Lancashire Constabulary, Lancashire County Council and the unitary authorities of Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen. Stakeholders are NHS Trusts, the Highways Agency, Government Office North West and the Lancashire Magistrates' Courts.

The Partnership is one of the largest locally based safety camera partnerships but in addition to speed it also addresses the other two main causes of road casualties, drink driving and motorists not wearing seatbelts.

It maintains a network of almost 300 fixed camera sites and also has eight mobile camera vehicles, six carried by cars and two by motorcycles, which can reach less accessible locations. The mobile cameras operate from 74 core sites and a further 72 sites of community concern put forward by the Community Safety Partnerships. The enforcement operation is supported by the Central Ticket Office which automatically processes all offences recorded by the cameras. It is recognised as being one of the most efficient offices in the country.

Cameras have successfully reduced both speeds and road casualties at camera sites. The Department for Transport's fourth year evaluation report on the National Safety Camera Programme shows reductions in Lancashire of 19.8% in personal injury collisions and 24.8% in killed or serious injury collisions. Traffic is travelling more slowly at camera sites, with speeds down 16% based on 85th percentile speeds.

The Partnership fully recognised the benefits of an education policy running alongside enforcement and  through Lancashire County Council was the first  to develop a Speed Awareness Course as an alternative to prosecution. This training course is recognised nationally and in 2004 was awarded the Prince Michael of Kent International Road Safety Award.

In 2004, recognising the need to change and develop policy, Lancashire Constabulary in conjunction with the Partnership undertook a review of its speed prosecution policy, and introduced the cautioning of speed offenders as an alternative to prosecution. As part of the review it also   extended the range of speeds at which the Speed Awareness Course can be offered, with the result that in excess of 20,000 drivers a year are now attending the course.

The enforcement and education undertaken by the Partnership is supported by a robust and effective communication strategy, which promotes road safety through campaigns against speeding and drink driving and promoting the wearing of seat belts in support of the Think! campaigns mounted by the Department for Transport.

The issue of drink driving is high on the Partnership agenda with high profile enforcement and education campaigns being at the forefront of our approach to address this issue. The Christmas 2005 campaign was particularly successful with Lancashire being one of the few constabulary areas to show a reduction in positive breath tests despite an increase in the number of drivers tested. Drink driving occurs more frequently among younger drivers, and young people and students are addressed through the ‘PAUSE’ campaign with the help of local radio station Rock FM and the University of Central Lancashire.

The Lancashire Constabulary has recently launched its new road policing policy. This has a strong emphasis on partnership working and a proactive yet proportionate response with regards to enforcement, focusing on the main causation of casualties and supporting Partnership campaigns with enforcement. 

It is important that cars are appropriately equipped for children, but 70% of child car seats have been found to be fitted incorrectly. Working with manufacturers and suppliers across the county we will carry out checks on child seats and we will address children directly through the ‘BeeSafe - Always wear your seat belt’ campaign using a cartoon character bee. Safety in taxis is also important, yet 62% of passengers fail to use their safety belts. We will encourage taxi operators to adopt a policy to encourage their passengers to ‘belt up’.

The benefits of wider partnership working are recognised by all the partners and work is ongoing to produce the Partnership Road Safety Strategy. This will identify common themes and objectives but recognise the individual problems and needs within each authority. The Partnership will seek every opportunity to work together in all areas of road safety extending beyond the current three areas, thereby  maximizing resources and the potential to reduce casualties. The Partnership is committed to continuing for the duration of the second Local Transport Plan. It is in the process of drafting a new Service Level Agreement that will ensure that camera enforcement remains an integral part of the Road Safety Strategy and that will guarantee the future funding of this activity within the partnership area.  In addition, the agreement will ensure that  Partnership resources are utilized in the most effective and efficient manner possible.