Edinburgh Summit on Speeding: Deterring speeding - enforcement and compliance; Empowering individuals and community groups with data

23^rd October 2021

Content

Deterring Speeding – Street design, traffic volumes and ISA

Deterring Speeding – Role of Enforcement

Empowering through data

1. Street design (low cost!)

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• Less traffic

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• Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA)

TfL Lower Speeds Toolkit – July 2019

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• Signing and road marking
• Vertical treatments
• Horizontal treatments
• Narrowing the carriageway
• Rethinking the street function (inc LTNs)

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https://tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/achieving-lower-speeds-toolkit.pdf

1. Street Design

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Low cost interventions on arterial roads (1)

Low cost interventions on arterial roads (2)

Not so low cost but! Pedestrianisation – The Strand outside Somerset House (August 2021)

2. Less traffic

• Research reveals that exposure, in terms of total vehicle travel, is a risk factor to those both inside and outside the vehicles. 

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• Research by Todd Litman, from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute in Canada, concludes that all motor traffic exposes people to danger.

https://www.vtpi.org/ntsp.pdf

“…each 1% increase in per capita Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) is associated with a 0.55% increase in traffic deaths (Yeo, Park and Jang (2015)).

University of Lancaster in 2015 found that the London Congestion Charge resulted in “meaningful” reductions of traffic volumes and “substantial” and “significant” reductions in accidents and fatalities.

When fuel prices rose between 2004-13 in the United States, people drove less and deaths went down. Then when fuel prices decreased after 2014 and traffic levels rose again, so did deaths. 

• Road User Charging
• Ultra Low/Zero Emission Zones
• Low Traffic Neighbourhoods
• Workplace Parking Levy

• Car-free areas
• Sustainable deliveries
• Compact/sustainable development.

Strategies for reducing traffic volumes

2. Less traffic

• ISA = potentially huge boost to increase compliance.
• ISA systems will be required on all new models of cars, vans, lorries and buses sold in the EU from 2022 and all new vehicles from 2024.
• European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) estimated that, if implemented correctly, ISA could eventually reduce road deaths by 20%.

3. Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA)

• BUT concerns about:

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• vehicle manufacturers installing a system that only alerts drivers when they break the speed limit, rather than assisting them to remain within it via feedback on the accelerator or by limiting engine torque;
• the risks of fitting systems that are not accurate enough at correctly identifying the correct speed limit;
• the issue of systems that can be deactivated too easily.

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• PLUS questions around the UK Government’s openness to adopting EU-originated policy.

• Mandatory ISA. In research* into the 2015 trial of bus mandatory ISA, TfL found that buses fitted with mandatory ISA were staying within the speed limit “97-99 per cent of the time”.

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*http://content.tfl.gov.uk/intelligent-speed-assistance-on-london-buses.pdf

• 500 enabled buses at present.�
• Target of 3,000 ISA enabled buses by end of 2022 (c50% of the fleet).

• Costs of retro-fitting (all) vehicles with mandatory ISA now relatively low – becomes cost-effective owing to other savings – insurance, fuel etc.

Content

Deterring Speeding – Street design, traffic volumes and ISA

Deterring Speeding – Role of Enforcement

Empowering through data

1. Developing a holistic lowering speeds programme

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• Third party reporting/Operation Snap

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• Community Speedwatch

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• Importance of Enforcement on Lower Speed Roads

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• Appropriate sanctions and penalties for speeding

1. Holistic lowering speeds programme

• TfL Vision Zero Action Plan – July 2018; (due for a refresh) autumn 2021.

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• NB TfL (5%) and 33 London boroughs (95%).

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• Target - zero fatal and serious road injuries by 2041 in London.

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• Safe system approach.

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• Lowering speed programme:
• Lower speed limits
• Street design
• Vehicles - ISA
• Enforcement – cameras and on-street enforcement; Community Road Watch.

content.tfl.gov.uk/vision-zero-action-plan.pdf

content.tfl.gov.uk/london-digital-speed-limit-map.pdf

Reducing speeds on arterial roads – which are also high streets and town centres.

A new enforcement approach for Vision Zero…

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• Launched April 2020 with 15 officers
• Amplification by social media
• Being expanded with another 17 officers.

…includes setting up a new Road Crime Team (April 2020).

“The most risky people, the most risky places and the most risky issues”

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“There is so often a link between people that are dangerous drivers and people that are committing other forms of criminality”

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DS Andy Cox

2. Third party reporting/Operation Snap

https://twitter.com/DC_Police/status/1299364958933848066

Devon & Cornwall Police

2. Third party reporting/Operation Snap

2. Third party reporting/Operation Snap

• Operation Snap in most police services (33 out of 40 at present) BUT
• No national system or guidelines to follow but National Police Chiefs’ Council recently issued recommendations on third-party reporting of traffic crime - to promote consistency and encourage all police services to participate.

In the West Midlands Police, the Road Harm Prevention Team described third party reporting as a “game changer”.

2. Third party reporting/Operation Snap

• Letter from 33 organisations to Police Scotland Head of Policing in March 2021 said “A camera footage system would be good news for all responsible road users and the police.”

3. Community Speedwatch

Community Speedwatch (CSW)

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https://www.communityspeedwatch.org/

• Members of local communities join with the support of the Police to monitor speeds of vehicles using speed detection devices

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• Vehicles exceeding the speed limit are referred to the Police with the aim of educating drivers to reduce their speeds through a letter.

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In the past year…

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• 61,210 speeding offence records were handled automatically and passed on to the local Police for further action.
• 43,776 warning letters were sent as a result.

3. Community Speedwatch

4. The Importance of Enforcement on Lower Speed Roads

• Focusing speeding enforcement on 20/30mph roads is key – especially in urban areas.

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• 2020 data on the proportion of fatal and serious road injuries occurring on 20mph and 30mph roads in Scotland

Source: TBC

Avon & Somerset – 20mph enforcement (2018)

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• Across the A&S force area as a whole, 25,090 drivers were issued with 20mph notices of intended prosecution (NIPs), compared with 45,523 for 30mph.

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• Bristol - 10,170 motorists were issued with a NIP for exceeding 20mph limits in the city — >50% more than the 6,817 caught speeding in 30mph areas.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/fury-thousands-more-drivers-caught-2734251

5. Appropriate sanctions: Fines

• Current cost of speeding FPN £100 (last increased in 2013) but FPN for mobile phone is £200 and £300 for uninsured vehicle.

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• For the first offence the driver can pay for an NDORS course but the FPN stays at £100 for subsequent offences. It is only after a driver has offended four times, before tough penalty comes in with disqualification.

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• Police and Crime Commissioners conducted survey in September 2019 - 70% of 66,000 respondents supported increasing fine to £200.

Sanctions: Court prosecutions

National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Speed Enforcement Guidance, 2013

https://www.npcc.police.uk/2018 FOI/Operations/030 18 Speed Enforcement Guidance.pdf

• Given the impact that speed has on chances of a pedestrian surviving a crash (50% at 35mph; very low at 50mph) – why are these drivers not being banned?

Sanctions: Driving bans

• Only 2% of speeding convictions (at court) in E&W result in driving ban (2020). NB v small proportion of offences are dealt with at court.
• Drink driving results in automatic ban of 12 months and has done so since 1967.

Content

Deterring Speeding – Street design, traffic volumes and ISA

Deterring Speeding – Role of Enforcement

Empowering through data

Data and resources - Speeding

AVZ Blog (May 2021) Speeding - an offence like no other.

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• No other offence contributes as much to fatal collisions.
• No other offence worsens the outcomes of crashes as much
• No other offence causes as much intimidation
• No other offence causes environmental harm
• No other offence is so common.

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We analyse this data by police service and allow trend analyses as well as comparisons with other police on per KSI basis as well as per capita.

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https://actionvisionzero.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/AVZBlog-SpeedingAnOffenceLikeNoOther-19May21.pdf

Data and resources - Speeding

1. Number of speeding offences detected by officers (2019) with a comparison between police services (per KSI)

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https://actionvisionzero.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AVZBlog-VariationInEnforcement-AMENDED-12Mar21.pdf

2. Proportion of speeding drivers convicted at court who were disqualified (Jun 2021)

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https://actionvisionzero.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/AVZBlog-DrivingBansCourts-29Jun21.pdf

Careless driving

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1. Number of careless driving offences detected by officers (2019) with a comparison between police services (per KSI) (Mar 2021)

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https://actionvisionzero.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AVZBlog-VariationInEnforcement-AMENDED-12Mar21.pdf

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2. Proportion of careless drivers convicted at court who were disqualified (Jun 2021)

https://actionvisionzero.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/AVZBlog-DrivingBansCourts-29Jun21.pdf

Criminal justice and court prosecutions

1. Motoring offence Court prosecutions by police area for 2015-2020 (Jul 2021)

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https://actionvisionzero.org/motoring-offences-at-court-by-police-service-area-2015-2020/

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2. Motoring offences and Magistrates Courts (Jul 2021)

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https://actionvisionzero.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/AVZBlog-True-toll-of-road-casualties-and-road-crime-19Jul21.pdf

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3. Driving bans (Jul 2021)

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https://actionvisionzero.org/motoring-offences-at-court-by-police-service-area-2015-2020/

Scotland Data

Scotland Data - https://statistics.gov.scot (updated 27^th August 2021)

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https://statistics.gov.scot/resource?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fstatistics.gov.scot%2Fdata%2Frecorded-crime

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DOWNLOAD - https://statistics.gov.scot/downloads/cube-table?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fstatistics.gov.scot%2Fdata%2Frecorded-crime

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Offences: Group 7: Crimes Or Offences Recorded (under UNITS) rather than Rate Per 10,000 Population (2019/20 to Q3 only)

Scotland Data – By Local Authority Area

Scotland Data - https://www.scotland.police.uk/spa-media/f5slniok/mmw-area-data-q-3-2019-20.xlsx

This is Group 7 ONLY (2019/20 ONLY) - Aggregate Crime Classification – there is more detail about the offences in Selected Crime Classification

Contact:

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Website: https://actionvisionzero.org

Email: jeremy/amy@actionvisionzero.org

Phone: 07415-243015

Twitter: @ActionVZ