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SoRSA Newsletter - July 2024

8th Jul 2024

Catch up with the latest news and all that's happening across the Society of Road Safety Auditors (SoRSA) in the July newsletter edition.

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So far this year SoRSA has hosted the East Midlands Road Safety Workshop in Derby, the Annual Conference in Manchester, a workshop in Cardiff and a number of webinars. Coming up after the summer holidays, SoRSA has plans for further events across the UK.

Address from the Chair - Eric Hill

I’m now embarking on my second and final year as Chair of SoRSA, and if last year is anything to go by, I expect it will be full on again!

Last year we held events in Perth, Sligo and Derby, hosted webinars, provided input to Transportation Professional, and were invited to speak at numerous conferences and webinars including Coventry University’s Safety and Security Workshop and the Peruvian Road Safety Webinar.

On a personal level the highlights include being sat next to Jane McCarry, the actress who plays “Isa” in the comedy “Still Game” (if you haven’t seen it look it up) at the Scottish CIHT dinner, and I’m in awe at the enthusiasm and support from the outgoing CIHT President Karen McShane which I’m sure will be continued by the incoming President Glenn Lyons.

However, I’d also like to praise the work of the committee for keeping me right and providing that vital support in moving the Society forward.

There is a lot of things that happen in the background of any organisation and SoRSA is no different. This ranges from organising events, updating membership records and renewals to providing speakers and representation to road safety events across the world.

Moving ahead I hope to keep up the momentum of pushing SoRSA forward, making us more visible and recognisable as a leading road safety organisation. This includes our partnership and liaison with other organisations, promoting our events, maintaining and improving standards, and bringing the road safety engineering community onboard.

Finally, I would like to thank all the SoRSA membership for their continuing support. Take a step back and pride yourself that your work is making a difference, the prevention of one incident can make a huge difference to people’s lives and it is not until you have experienced the tragedy, hurt and disruption that road incidents can cause will you really understand the importance of your interventions large and small to keep us safe.

Keep up the good work.

Annual Conference 2024

In June, we had the opportunity to network with 180 professionals and update knowledge at the SoRSA Conference in Manchester. This year’s event was marked by awarding two professionals with outstanding contributions to the Road Safety Audit community over the years. Both Alan Rookes and Kate Carpenter were awarded Honorary Fellowships of SoRSA. We look forward to seeing them both at future events.

On the Monday afternoon, after registration and the welcome address, Luke Heming from the Road Safety Engineering Unit at Metropolitan Police gave some insights into urban realm, cycling schemes, causation factors as well as highlighting the stopping distance of a well-known EV brand product. Dr Suzy Charman spoke around Safe Systems and the elimination of the potential for collisions. She outlined the need to align speeds with survivability as well as steps, moving forward, in terms of education, communication, research, enforcement etc. Suzy also reiterated the very important growing theme around reducing the consequential impact on the NHS, both in primary care and ongoing care post injury into later life.

After the Annual General Meeting, various networking groups developed before and after the meal, with delegates enjoying the bright lights of a Monday night in Manchester!

Tuesday morning started with an excellent update on Smart Motorways. This included the recent stocktakes, the growing knowledge of the different collision trends with each type of Smart Motorway deployment, the bigger picture of trading off the beneficial aspects against the increased risks of some collision types and, interestingly, how the middle term mixed fleet of autonomous enabled and existing technologies could give rise to new collision trends.

Presentations continued throughout the morning session. Firstly, a presentation about specialist markings for motorcycles in the Scottish Highlands (PRIME). After that a risk scoring tool linked to mapping. Then, closing before lunch, systems thinking and changing how we think through problems. The afternoon session started with presentations about ongoing work in Lambeth and Glasgow around climate action, places for people and active modes, encouraging mode change and lessons learnt. The afternoon session closed with a presentation on suicide prevention in the RSA context and a panel question time.

CIHT Learn and Road Safety Audit

If you didn’t make the SoRSA annual conference, there are currently 71 modules on CIHT Learn covering topics as diverse as infrastructure, planning, inclusive mobility and sustainable transportation. Many of these offer suitable CPD opportunities for Road Safety Auditors to meet and hopefully exceed their two-day requirement as outlined in GG119.

You can view the available courses and modules at CIHT Learn.

Electric Vehicles and Road Safety Audit

As of April 2024, there are around 60,000 public electric vehicle charging devices installed in the UK. Just under 20,000 of these were installed in the last 12 months. The Building Regulations now also outline in Part S requirements around provision of home charging in new homes and non-residential sites which came into effect in June 2022.

EV charging typically comes in three forms: slow home charging, middle speed destination charging and rapid enroute charging. The latter being most commonly found at service areas, petrol filling stations and, increasingly, at cafes and fast-food sites. For the uninitiated, charging requires connecting the EV to a power source. This may be a heavy-duty flexible cable linked to a residential property or a tethered cable, more akin to a fuel pump pipe, linked to a dedicated charging unit.

Residential charging is typically slow (AC 3kW) and it takes several hours to charge a vehicle. Unless charging is possible on a private driveway, there may be a risk that cables are trailed across footways, providing a trip hazard. This may be a factor in residential schemes especially where affordable homes and apartments may not have driveways or have footways between the property and its parking spaces.

Whilst trips and falls are unlikely to be reportable within the framework of collision recording, they can be life changing for pedestrians especially the elderly. They may also increase the risk for users who rely on mobility aids forcing them to take less safe routes, via the carriageway areas, to avoid cables across footways.

Destination and enroute charging can take different forms with some destination chargers being slow, simply offering users an opportunity to top up. Others are fast (AC 7-23kW), rapid (AC 43kW, DC 50kW) and, perhaps most useful typically when enroute, Ultra Rapid (DC 100kW+). Charging typically involves parking in a specific marked bay, connecting a tethered charge cable then using some form of payment mechanism at the charging unit to start the transaction. Charging at Rapid and Ultra Rapid sites, especially the DC 200kW+ sites, is typically short stay with users plugging in for as little as 5 minutes. Those who wish to charge their vehicle fully could do so, with newer vehicles, in less than 30 minutes.

The tethered cables for DC charging are often cumbersome. These may increase the risk of a pedestrian stepping out into areas used by moving traffic in car parks whilst handling the cable. Also, the dedicated sites often involve crossing trafficked routes and car parking areas to access facilities such as cafes, toilets, fast food outlets etc. The key difference here is that, at a petrol filling station, this is often completed by the driver alone, whereas at a EV charging location, this is likely to be a whole family unit. Consideration is required here on collision risks, asking the questions around pedestrian desire lines, pedestrians potentially stepping out from concealment behind vehicles as well as landscaping. How will users with mobility aids be managed, including wheelchairs, mobility scooters, prams and buggies?

EV charging will increasingly become part of the street scape environment. Local authorities are seeking to provide facilities in existing residential areas. Many factors may complicate this including: which side of the car the charging port is located, especially in one way street environments; the use of charging booms for overhead tethered cables obstructing traffic signs and signals as well as cables trailing across footway areas. EV charging is here to stay! How we deal with the issues within the Road Safety Audit context is clearly a developing topic.

Upcoming Events

September 2024 – Scottish Workshop – TBC

February 2025 – East Midlands Workship – Derby Conference Centre – 6th February 2025

June 2025 – SoRSA 2025 Annual Conference – TBC

Continuing Professional Development

CPD doesn’t just have to be around attending events and webinars. There are further opportunities for development through volunteering or further reading. GG119 sets out a minimum requirement of 2 days CPD in the last 12 months. Also, as a CIHT member, you are expected to plan, record, and reflect on CPD throughout each year with members required to undertake a minimum of 25 hours of CPD annually.

Decarbonisation is a key theme moving forward. There are two hours of CPD available specifically on this theme on CIHT Learn and there is an expectation for CIHT members to have some decarbonisation CPD in the coming year.

Did you know you can plan, record and manage your CPD for free at CIHT Learn.