Agenda item

Area Manager, Matt Hamer, provided the meeting with an annual report regarding Road Safety Intervention Activity which explained the Service’s core prevention offer and also the challenges on Lancashire’s roads.

 

Members noted that, through the previous 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 our 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 more recent 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 2022-2023 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 Clare Burscough, 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.

 

Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, the Service had developed new ways of working and 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. The offer of virtual delivery remained part of the service’s plan and continued to be selected by schools as a delivery method across the country.

 

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 level. Area Manager, Matt Hamer, was the Vice-Chair of the partnership. The partners worked closely with each other and delivered the partnership strategy ‘Towards Zero’ Lancashire: Road Safety Strategy for Lancashire 2016 – 2026’, in an attempt to reduce those killed or seriously injured on Lancashire’s roads.

 

LFRS lead on the Children and Young People workstream which brought partners together to look at what was currently delivered, what worked well and where the gaps where so that resources could be pooled to work efficiently and without duplication. The LRSP continued to work through the action plan following the review of the partnership completed in 2022.

 

The LFRS Road Safety Thematic Group Priorities 2022-2023

 

1.       Road Sense – Evaluate the new package & deliver to all primary schools in Lancashire.

2.       Wasted Lives - Develop a suite of assembly sessions, update the existing workshop session, and promote delivery of Wasted Lives for year 11/10.

3.       Safe Drive Stay Alive – Support events.

4.       Biker Down – Grow delivery of courses, expanding to new locations. 

 

 

1. Road Sense

 

Road Sense was the name given to the road safety education programme delivered to Year 6 pupils. The session was mixed and started with a 20-minute fire safety recap followed by 40 minutes of road safety input. It provided the opportunity to draw on a previous session the pupils would have received in Year 2 and explored the consequences of hoax calls and deliberate fires. 

 

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.

 

Staywise had now adopted the package. Staywise was an online resource website for Fire and Rescue Services across the country.

 

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 provided positive feedback from schools with 76% of teachers selecting that they ‘strongly agreed’ the session would have a positive impact on the student’s road user behaviour. The remaining 24% ‘agreed’ with this. The Service had not received any negative feedback. Utilising the QR code allowed the teachers to give more honest feedback and improved the efficiency of the process.

 

The following feedback had been received from teachers following a Road Sense delivery:

 

“Great mix of humour and serious information. Allowed children to ask questions which were answered effectively. Use of videos helped to reinforce the information shared. Hard-hitting videos but age appropriate”.

 

“Good points made. Verbal and visual stimulus which kept the children engaged and informed. Handout is useful to recap the given messages”.

 

During the current academic year, LFRS had embedded 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. During the reporting period, 15,603 Year 6 pupils received the input.

 

 

2. ‘Wasted Lives’ Young Driver Road Safety Education Programme

 

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 120,000 young people throughout Lancashire, including Blackpool, and Blackburn with Darwen. For the period 2022-2023, LFRS had delivered the programme to 2,806 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. Throughout the last 12 months, due to recovery from the Coronavirus pandemic, the number of schools contacting the Service for a session, had reduced. A suite of assembly session had been developed which could be adapted in length to fit in with schools’ timetables. 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. As part of the district planning process 2022/23 each of the areas utilised ‘heat’ maps to identify areas of risk which allowed targeted delivery of ‘Wasted Lives’.

 

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 Service now had a new vehicle where the circumstances of the collision were solely speed related. It was hoped that it would resonate with more of the community as there was no alcohol or drugs involved in the crash.

 

 

3. Safe Drive Stay Alive

 

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 came 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. Considerable work had been carried out nationally to compare a number of packages aimed at that age group and LFRS had been involved, alongside LRSP members, in evaluating the best fit for Lancashire. Whilst this had been ongoing LFRS had facilitated a video version on behalf of the partnership, however, had found that colleges preferred face to face delivery and also had challenges in fitting sessions into their timetable.

 

 

4. Biker Down

 

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’.

 

During the reporting period, there had been a 5% increase in motorcycle casualties, totalling 145. Lancashire’s statistics showed that someone was 72 times more likely to die on a motorcycle than in a car on the road, higher than the national average.

 

There had been 346 attendees in the last 12 months and the appetite for the courses had grown significantly over recent months with the Facebook page reaching over 900 likes and the reach of posts sometimes exceeding 1500 people. All attendees took part in a practical element of the course which included 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. Feedback from attendees mirrored how important this part of the course was and how valuable they felt it was.

 

Feedback included:

 

“A really useful session. A great deal learnt. Hopefully I’ll not need to put into practice but I feel confident that I could now”.

 

“Wonderful course. Great presentation. I will be recommending. Thank you very much”.

 

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.

 

Summary

 

The 12-month period had presented challenges for the delivery of Road Safety Education and the Service’s ability to engage with the communities of Lancashire, many schools were in a ‘recovery’ period which resulted in very tight constraints on their timetables. The Service had continued to adapt offerings and, with increased use of technology and innovative ideas by members of the Road Safety Thematic Group which meant that the education package had been delivered to over 18,500 people.

 

The Service continued to be an active member of the LRSP and, building on the review, looked forward to continuing to be involved in a collaborative approach. This would have an emphasis on the strengths that the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service brand could bring to the partnership working to deliver the collaborative ambition of a safer road system.

 

Focusing on the Service’s priorities for 2022/23, some notable progression and successful outcomes had been achieved, from getting back into primary schools, post pandemic, to engage with pupils and deliver the improved Road Sense package to re-launching Wasted Lives and Biker Down. The Service’s action plan for the forthcoming year would build on that.

 

Over the next 12 months, the Service would be focusing on further evaluation of Road Safety initiatives, campaigns and educational packages. The evaluation would look at 4 distinct areas; Is our targeting correct and appropriate, are we delivering according to end user expectations, are we influencing a positive behaviour change, and are we delivering value for money (i.e. for every £1 spent on prevention, what does that save in terms of prevention of an incident).

 

 

In response to a question from County Councillor Andrea Kay in relation to a package targeting the over 80-year-old population, Area Manager, Matt Hamer, explained that the LRSP had an Older Road Users Group. This group analysed data for the older population and were looking for a location to hold an event. He highlighted that the emphasis was to increase people’s safety awareness and help maintain their independence as many older drivers relied on their vehicle for transport.

 

County Councillor Kay commented on the danger to motorcyclists on the road. Area Manager, Matt Hamer, stated that the Biker Down package was delivered to motorcycle users which had been delivered to 346 people over the previous 12 months with future sessions already at full capacity. Car drivers also needed to be educated on road safety around motorcycles and it was anticipated that educating young drivers would embed and normalise the existing safety messages.

 

County Councillor Kay asked if new drivers could be encouraged to participate in a road safety package once they had passed their driving test. It was explained by Area Manager, Matt Hamer, that the LRSP worked with the Driver Standards Agency and Driving Instructors to embed safety messages and the importance of carrying out vehicle checks. In addition, new drivers could take part in an advanced driving course, although it was not compulsory. 

 

In response to a suggestion from County Councillor Yates for the road safety training to be delivered to officers in Lancashire County Council Highways and Planning Departments in Local Councils, Area Manager, Matt Hamer informed that engineering solutions were discussed within the LRSP with data passed on to the Planning Department in Lancashire County Council.

 

A discussion took place with Members and officers regarding the dangers related to e-bikes and scooters. The main points raised were:

-         Deaths related to e-bikes and e-scooters and the lack of safety equipment worn by riders.

-         The dangers of riding the devices on roads were discussed at the LRSP.

-         Relatives buying e-bikes and the need to educate parents about the speeds that these products can reach and the safety implications for young people.

-         E-bikes and e-scooters being used for criminal activity.

-         The devices being ridden on roads with a lack of knowledge of the highway code.

-         E-scooters being used as a mode of transport in dedicated cycle lanes in larger cities but Lancashire not having the infrastructure for this.

-         E-bikes and e-scooters being unregulated when parts were added which were bought through the black market.

-         Road and fire safety of the devices.

-         LFRS were pushing the fire safety aspect with the charging of lithium batteries, especially on escape routes. Material promoting lithium ion battery safety would be sent through to Members.

 

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