Agenda item

Group Manager Prevention, Kirsty McCreesh, provided the meeting with an annual report regarding Road Safety Intervention Activity which explained the Service’s core prevention offer and also the issues on Lancashire’s roads.

 

Members noted that, through the Integrated Risk Management Plan 2017-2022 (IRMP), prevention and protection services and the structure for delivery were reviewed to ensure that the Service was delivering appropriate services in line with the changing operating environment. As a result, working practices had changed with a strategic focus on the quality of the services that continued to be delivered. The services were delivered around key themes: helping people to start safe, live safe, age safe and be safe on the roads with a focus on working collaboratively with other organisations. To ensure constant improvement in all parts of prevention delivery, the Service had dedicated thematic groups whose priorities aligned to the Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) 2022-2027 and the Prevention Strategy. 

 

Road Safe Thematic Group

 

The Thematic Road Safety Group continued to meet every quarter during 2021-2022 with an option of in-person and virtual meetings. Membership of the group came from all areas of the county and was a mix of Community Safety and Operational Staff. Road Safety Champion, County Councillor Ron Woollam, had close links with the group and was in regular communication with the Prevention Support Officer for Road Safety.

 

An annual plan aligned to the terms of reference had been developed alongside a priority work programme which supported the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership (LRSP) ‘Towards Zero’ strategy. An ambition of the group was to improve communication between strategic and practitioner levels and also to send clear messages out to Service Areas with key road safety priorities. The Service sought to deliver focused activities in areas identified as having issues and evaluate effectiveness. Unfortunately, in March 2020, the coronavirus struck and subsequently, the Service had to develop new ways of working to target ‘at risk’ groups. Some of those working practices had been adopted as business as usual and offered a greater choice of delivery methods for the community, improving the Service’s reach and efficacy.

 

Lancashire Road Safety Partnership (LRSP)

 

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service continued to be a proactive member of LRSP and had representatives at both Strategic and Operational group levels. The partners worked closely with each other and delivered the partnership strategy ‘Towards Zero’ Lancashire: Road Safety Strategy for Lancashire, in an attempt to reduce those killed or seriously injured on Lancashire’s roads.

 

The Partnership had 3 staff posts:

i) Road Safety Analyst, hosted by Lancashire Constabulary;

ii) Road Safety Coordinator, hosted by LFRS; and

iii) Road Safety Manager, hosted by Lancashire Constabulary.

 

The Road Safety Analyst produced road safety reports that focused on the risks, not only throughout Lancashire, but also at district level. The data ensured that resources were best directed into reducing road traffic collisions of all severities throughout Lancashire’s fourteen districts (including Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen), whilst combating the criminal use of the wider road network. A lot of the work had focused on the installation and evaluation of Average Speed Cameras across the county. The Road Safety Coordinator post aligned all partnership action plans and priorities and ensured the Partnership’s road safety activity was effective. An ongoing action plan was monitored to ensure outcomes were reviewed with recommendations made and implemented. This multi-agency role helped ensure that the countrywide response to national campaigns was coordinated. The Road Safety Manager post was created in December 2021 to improve the link between the R.S. Executive Board and Operational Group. The role was also created to oversee and steer collaborative work between partners.

 

A peer review of the LRSP was commissioned in January 2022 and undertaken by West Yorkshire Police. The overarching purpose of the review was to ensure that the partnership was efficient and effective in reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured on the road network in Lancashire and that the approaches of the partnership were in line with recognised best practice. Within the review, LFRS’ contribution to education delivery was noted and the review cited; ‘Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service has a well embedded schools’ education programme and achieves significant levels of coverage in many areas which are developed to address specific learning objectives’.

 

The LFRS Road Safety Thematic Group Priorities 2021-2022

 

1.   Road Sense – Roll out package and deliver to all primary schools in Lancashire;

 

Road Sense was the name given to the road safety education programme delivered to Year 6 pupils. It replaced the Child Safety fire safety session with a full fire safety session being moved to Year 7 and was offered to all secondary schools under the Teen Safe banner. However, following requests from school and feedback from staff, a fire recap had been reintroduced at the start. It gave an opportunity to draw on previous sessions that pupils would have received in Year 2 and explored the consequences of hoax calls and deliberate fires. The 1-hour session was now split into 20 minutes of Fire Safety, then 40 minutes of Road Safety.

 

The Package focused on five key road safety themes which were selected to reflect Lancashire’s issues with young people:

-         In Car Safety;

-         Pedestrian Safety;

-         Cycle Safety;

-         Be Safe Be Seen;

-         Bus Safety.

 

Road Sense became a service-wide offer in 2017. Following a full academic year of delivery, an evaluation took place with schools and LFRS staff. The findings from the evaluation allowed the Service to completely revamp the package and a full consultation was carried out across all Community Fire Safety teams and 20 Operational crews. At the start of 2020, the new package was ready to go and a small number of staff received training to trial the updated version. Unfortunately, only 10 sessions were delivered before all school visits were halted due to the outbreak of Covid-19. Positively, the 10 schools that received the delivery were very pleased with the updated package. Feedback from staff was also favourable towards the updated delivery. They felt it was more engaging and had improved the functionality of IT due to the introduction of an element of the website on which packages could be based and easily accessed. The inclusion of a digital platform assisted with the facilitation of virtual delivery via MS Teams throughout the pandemic and LFRS could offer both virtual and in-person delivery to meet the needs of each school.

 

The inclusion of a ‘Road Sense Fact Sheet’, using the CFA Road Safety Champion budget, was a very welcome addition to the session and teachers commented on the usefulness of information for pupils to take home for further discussion with their families. Evaluation of the package showed 93% of teachers rating the delivery and effectiveness of the package as ‘Outstanding’ with the remaining 7% being ‘Good’. No feedback had been received as ‘Satisfactory’ or ‘Inadequate’.

 

During the current academic year, LFRS had implemented an Education Tracker. It allowed the monitoring of all delivery in schools, from the initial contact stage through to the submission of all paperwork following the session taking place. To date, the delivery figures were looking higher than ever before.

 

2.       Develop an assembly format, update the existing workshop sessions, and promote delivery of Wasted Lives for years 10 & 11;

 

LFRS was now the only delivery partner for Wasted Lives following changes at Lancashire County Council. The programme was aimed at young people and pre-drivers which aimed to influence behaviour and change attitudes either as a driver or a passenger, thereby reducing risk to that specific group and to other road users.

 

By actively engaging with the age group of 15-20 year olds, Wasted Lives aimed to maximise the opportunities for people to evaluate and reflect on their own attitudes and behaviour behind the wheel and as a passenger. Extensive evaluation had demonstrated how the package promoted real and lasting changes in how each participant behaved in a car. Since the introduction of Wasted Lives in 2010, LFRS had delivered road safety education to over 118,000 young people throughout Lancashire, including Blackpool, and Blackburn with Darwen. For the period 2021-2022, LFRS had delivered the programme to 3,053 young people using Microsoft Teams and face-to face delivery.

 

The Service would continue the delivery of Wasted Lives to Years 10 and 11 students as pre-drivers and those employed as apprentices. In November 2021, as part of National Road Safety Week, an assembly format was launched, as it was a request often received from schools due to timetables being very tight. Prior to the launch, a full refresh of the package was undertaken. Although students would get more group work and engagement in the classroom-based sessions, they had been adapted to the constraints of school timetables to maximise numbers reached. The pandemic had provided the opportunity to develop different ways of working and the Service was now offering an MS Teams version of Wasted Lives and accompanying resource pack. Schools now had 3 delivery options and by being more flexible in what could be delivered and how, more young people had been reached.

 

The Wasted Lives package also had the option of being complemented by a ‘crashed car’, which was a vehicle from a real incident where, tragically, there had been a fatality. Alternatively, the car could be used as a standalone resource at a community event. The use of cars had been placed on hold due to Covid-19 restrictions, however, as more events started to take place, they were being utilised again. The vehicles were a really hard-hitting resource and had a lasting impact on people of all ages. The year 2021-2022 saw a review of the provision the Service had and a progression of updates and improvements.

 

3.       Support ‘Safe Drive Stay Alive’ events;

 

Safe Drive Stay Alive was a road safety initiative where the audience heard real life stories from the emergency services and families who had all been affected by road traffic collisions in an auditorium setting. The delivery was aimed at college aged students. The speakers had all come forward to share their emotional experiences in a bid to reduce the number of young people killed or seriously injured on Lancashire’s roads. Throughout the session, the young people heard from a Fire Fighter, Police Officer, Paramedic and a bereaved family member.

 

Safe Drive Stay Alive was emotional and encouraged reflection. The sessions aimed to encourage students to improve their attitudes towards risk taking behaviour on the roads. During 2021-2022, LFRS assisted LRSP to deliver to 1,584 students. The numbers were lower than previous years due to Covid-19 restrictions within colleges and partner organisations. The session required large numbers of students to sit together within a theatre setting and many were hesitant about restarting the activity. An online version had also been promoted that colleges could access to provide an alternative where a large gathering was not possible.

 

4.       Reintroduce (following Covid) and promote delivery of Biker Down Courses.

 

Biker Down was a course that was aimed at motorcyclists and pillions of all ages and experience. The free 3-hour course offered members of the public a chance to learn practical skills which could be put into practice anywhere at any time.

 

The 3 modules covered were:

-         Incident Management;

-         First Aid;

-         The Science of Being Seen.

 

The initiative started in Kent and LFRS had signed a memorandum of understanding with Kent Fire and Rescue Service to allow the Service to use the logo and delivery material.

 

LFRS had worked with LRSP to ensure that delivery was complementary to Bike Safe, which was a Police-led initiative. Anyone who attended Biker Down was encouraged to book onto Bike Safe which was seen as the next step in training as it involved a ride out with an Advanced Police Motorcyclist. Biker Down was seen as the start of a motorcyclists ‘learning journey’. In a recent 6-month period, motorcyclists accounted for 50% of Lancashire’s fatalities and statistics showed that people were 72 times more likely to die on a motorcycle than in a car on the road.

 

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, Biker Down sessions restarted at the end of September 2021, and ran on reduced numbers with an additional risk assessment to keep both staff and attendees safe. Between September 2021 and March 2022, the team ran 13 courses with 169 attendees. Recently, the appetite for the courses had grown significantly with the Facebook page reaching 500 likes and the reach of posts sometimes exceeding 1,500 people. With the introduction of a thorough Risk Assessment, all attendees were still able to take part in the practical elements of the course, helmet removal and CPR. There were really important skills which might be needed should they be faced with a road traffic collision involving a motorcyclist.

 

With support from County Councillor Ron Woollam, a portion of the CFA Road Safety Champion budget was utilised to provide all attendees with a First Aid kit that complemented the skills they were taught and a bike puc (stand), which incorporated the safety message ‘Dress for the slide, not the ride’. The delivery model was flexible so courses could be hosted for individual motorcycle clubs or advertised using an online booking platform for members of the public to book on independently. The Biker Down team aimed to run 12 courses per year but were exceeding that aspiration due to such a high demand for courses.

 

The Chair thanked the Group Manager Prevention for her report and commended the fantastic work carried out on road safety. He acknowledged the success of the education packages was due to the hard work of the team and effective marketing using social media. He would like to see Wasted Lives and Road Sense included more on social media to raise awareness of road traffic collisions to young people and requested that Members shared posts on their social media channels.  

 

In response to a question from County Councillor Andrea Kay in relation to young new drivers being put forward to attend a course when caught driving dangerously, the Group Manager Prevention explained that the Service capitalised on education whereas the courses for inappropriate driving were more aligned with the Police. She added that Safe Drive Stay Alive involved the experiences of the Fire Service, the Police and the Ambulance Service to talk about the human aspects of traffic collisions and the consequences of actions.

 

County Councillor Ash Sutcliffe queried how the Wasted Lives package was targeted. The Group Manager Prevention informed that through district planning, each district had a plan which was informed by data analysis provided by the partnership. This allowed the Service to use a suite of options to deliver packages to the targeted groups. Road Sense was an approach delivered to all pupils in Year 6. The Chair stated that the feedback from schools was very positive and the Group Manager Prevention confirmed that schools could request delivery of the package.

 

Ged Basson, Senior Operations Manager, North West Fire Control, commented that North West Fire Control had supported Lancashire who did an excellent job in relation to road safety. North West Fire Control would be creating social media posts to inform that the north west have the technology, through 999eye, to pinpoint a location and get resources to an incident more rapidly.

 

RESOLVED: - That the Committee endorsed the Annual Road Safety Intervention report.