A new report for November looks at Safe System implementation, while UK government alignment remains important. Rob Pellow, Policy Advisor – Planning Transport, CIHT, with the latest from the Institution’s policy team.
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Rob Pellow was in conversation with John Challen
The areas of transport and safety never sit still and with a new UK government in place, there seem to be positive changes in the works. The Labour Party’s commitment to the establishment of a road safety strategy – along with its willingness to engage with the road safety community – is a welcome announcement for the sector.
As a result, CIHT looks forward to working with the government to support this progress and has been making its own efforts over the past year to improve road safety.
For example, in May, CIHT signed up for the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) Manifesto for Road Safety. Meanwhile, the CIHT Road Safety Award continues to champion good practice.
CIHT signing up for the PACTS manifesto, which launched on 14 May 2024, is an important step. The manifesto includes four key calls: developing a national road safety strategy, establishing a road safety investigation branch, introducing graduated driver licensing, and adopting advanced vehicle safety regulations.
With these developments in mind, the policy team is currently working on a report titled 'Progressing the UK Towards Safe System Implementation' – due to be launched on the 20 November during Road Safety Week.
Rob Pellow, Policy Advisor – Planning Transport; credit: Rob Pellow
CIHT’s ‘Progressing the UK Towards Safe System Implementation’ report will identify opportunities for the UK road transport system to be aligned with the Safe System.
It describes the Safe System as a practical and achievable system which, if implemented holistically, will lead to the reduction of death and serious injuries on UK roads. The report explains what the Safe System is, identifies the barriers to implementation in the UK, highlights some of the actions required to overcome these barriers and identifies stakeholders that can contribute towards alleviating them.
The report, which will be available here on release, also features a broad set of recommendations made to encourage a renewed national-level focus on improved road safety outcomes. As a policy team, we look forward to working together with policymakers and stakeholders to improve road safety going forward.
Elsewhere in the realm of road safety, the annual CIHT Awards were held on 13 June 2024. The Road Safety Award, in memory of John Smart, recognises outstanding achievements that improve road user safety through excellent practice, design and technical application.
The winner of the CIHT & WJ Group Road Safety Award in 2024 was Acusensus UK with its distracted driving solution, ‘Heads Up’, an AI-driven camera technology that identifies driver behaviours such as mobile phone use or non-wearing of seatbelts and something that was trialled in the UK in 2022/23.
Register your interest in the 2025 CIHT Road Safety Award now.
CIHT’s new report ‘Progressing the UK towards safe system implementation’ will be available here shortly after its launch.
Newsletter image: an electronic sign signalling excessive speed; credit: Shutterstock.
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