Road safety

Road safety programmes

We are currently involved with the following areas of work. The importance of different areas will change as the casualty profile changes and is affected by the current priorities of the Local Transport Plan.

Vulnerable road users

• Walking
• Cycling
• Motorcycling
• Travelling to school

Other road users

• Driving
• Sustainable transport
• Minibus safety

Statutory responsibility

The Road Safety Team is responsible for reducing the number of casualties on Plymouth’s roads. We have a statutory responsibility under the Road Traffic Act 1988 to prepare and carry out a programme of measures designed to promote road safety throughout the city.

We will:

• carry out studies into the location of road casualties and formulate programmes of action to reduce casualties
• inform and promote the safe use of the city’s road through our programme of education, training and publicity
• liaise with the police, health authority, children’s services and other bodies over road safety matters
• promote sustainable travel
• ensure that road improvement schemes are safety audited to ensure the design meets best practice and enhances the safety of vulnerable road users such as the pedestrians, cyclists and the elderly

What we do to improve road safety

Vulnerable road users

Walking

Walking forms a key element of every journey. The city has seen a drop in pedestrian casualties as we are installing more pedestrian crossings. However young people aged 11 to 16 continue to make up most of the casualties on foot. Our pedestrian strategy gives details of how we are improving the walking environment and our child road safety audit which is in the documents table at the bottom of this page has an action plan for improving the safety of young people on foot.

Cycling

We work to ensure that we retain and improve our network of cycle paths and advisory cycles routes, which are detailed on our comprehensive Plymouth Cycle Map available to download on our cycling page. We also encourage young cyclists to get trained and for adults to also get trained as instructors to run cycle training courses. You can find out more about this on our cycle training page.

Motorcycling

Serious motorcycle casualties have gone down since 1998, however slight casualties have increased. Up to date information can be found on our motorcycle casualty figures page. Information about how we are helping to make biking safer can be found on our motorcycles in bus lanes page, which tells you about a temporary trial we are running. We work with the police on bike training and events to promote safer riding. More details about this can be found on our safer motorcycling page.

Travelling to school

We promote road safety education within the curriculum. This is done through a School Travel Plan (see our travelling to school page) which awards funding to the school to improve safety and increase cycling, walking and public transport use. Teaching about road safety and sustainable travel helps promote the ‘Every Child Matters’ strategy. We have produced detailed information guides on our road safety education page to assist teachers with ideas and resources on teaching road safety and sustainability issues.

Other road users

Driving

It is estimated that a third of road casualties occur whilst driving at work; nationally this may account for 20 fatalities and 250 serious injuries a week. Companies are required by health and safety law to manage their employees’ risks while on the road, which means more than providing a roadworthy vehicle with an MOT. Young drivers aged between 17 and 24 are at a much higher risk than older drivers. In fact an 18 year old is three times more likely to crash than a 48 year old. The drivers page provides lots of useful guidance to companies about managing the risks of driving at work and to young drivers on how they can drive safer and smarter.

Sustainable transport

We promote alternatives to the car in order to improve our environment. Public transport is safer and less polluting than the car. As a relatively compact city we have an excellent bus network and a wealth of information available to travellers. Lack of information can stop people using the bus, but we have a new service called check that bus using the internet and SMS text messaging to give real time information about when your next bus is due from any stop in the city.

Minibus safety

The road safety team provides minibus training to any organisation in the city involved in carrying passengers. Drivers who attend the minibus course and regular refresher courses are trained to a level that enhances their driving skills considerably beyond the requirements of the Drivers Assessment CourseDSA driving test. More information can be found on the minibus safety page.

Documents

To view these documents you might need to download some software. Visit our downloads page for more information.

Child road safety audit 2005 - the audit describes the location, scale and nature of child casualties in Plymouth. It also presents an action plan that describes how the city can reduce child casualties through partnerships with different organisations in the city. File format Adobe Acrobat (pdf) - 555KB

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