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Review will enable Staffordshire roads to remain safest
Staffordshire's roads should remain one of the safest in the country following a review of Staffordshire Safer Roads Partnership.

A new emphasis on greater education and retraining will ensure that public safety remains the number one priority.

These are among measures to be discussed when Cabinet considers Staffordshire Safer Roads Partnership's efficiency review on Wednesday, and would enable the partnership to maintain its record breaking road safety standards while reducing the cost to the taxpayer.

Staffordshire County Councillor Mike Maryon, Cabinet member for Highways and Road Safety, said: "Road safety is a top priority for Staffordshire. The county has an exemplary record for reducing the number of people who are killed or seriously injured on the highway. This is an achievement that we are, and will continue to be, 100 per cent committed to.
"I am determined not only to maintain but to improve road safety. I am confident that we can do this within our new budgets. A thorough review of road safety measures has been carried out across the county to identify where cost savings can be made without there being any adverse affect on safety."
Staffordshire Safer Roads Partnership aims to make roads safer by co-coordinating the enforcement, education, training and publicity activities of the partners, who include the county council, Staffordshire Police and Stoke-on-Trent City Council.
Casualty rates have fallen to an all time low, standing at 261 people killed or seriously injured in 2009.

County Councillor Maryon added: "We now take a much more rounded view of road safety, with less reliance on enforcement and now regularly use other speed management measures such as Speed Indication Devices and Community Speed Watch rather than cameras. Ninety eight per cent of accidents are as a result of human error, often as a result of inexperience. This is why a comprehensive programme which includes a greater emphasis on education and training can reap rewards.
"The new emphasis represents an opportunity to decommission a number of low-priority road safety cameras in areas where no significant accidents have been recorded. This will also bring about savings through reduced maintenance and electricity costs."
The decommissioned camera housings will stay in-place to continue to act as a deterrent to motorists.
If a motorist or pedestrian is seriously injured in a collision at one of the decommissioned sites and speed is found to be a key factor, the camera route will be reactivated.
All routes will be reviewed on a six monthly basis.

County Councillor Maryon said: "The locations of the decommissioned camera sites will not be made public so the housings will continue to have exactly the same deterrent affect as they do now. I appreciate some people will want to know which have been decommissioned, but the locations will not be disclosed for valid safety reasons.

"This approach has already been endorsed by the Staffordshire Safer Roads Partnership's governance board which considered the issue in December.

"I am confident that while road safety cameras still have a valuable part to play in the overall road safety picture their importance can be over-emphasised. We analyse the results of every serious accident that involves death or serious injury and the new strategy reflects the results of that analysis."

Page Last Modified: 14/01/2011 17:25:31