Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service Road Safety ...authority.manchesterfire.gov.uk/Published/C00000186/M00000429/AI... · GREATER MANCHESTER FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE Road Safety

APPENDIX 4

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service

Road Safety Strategy 2012 – 2015

September 2012

GREATER MANCHESTER FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE

Road Safety Strategy Version 3.0 2

Document Version Control

Issue No Date

1 11 December 2011

2 31 July 2012

3 24 August 2012

Approval Agency: Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority

Strategy Sponsor: Director of Prevention and Protection

This Strategy was originally approved in:

March 2012

This Strategy was reviewed in:

Next review date:



Contents Page

Section Title Page

INTRODUCTION 3

1 Scope 5

WHERE WE ARE NOW

2 Background 6

3 Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership 7

4 PESTLE Analysis 8

5 GMFRS Current Road Safety Prevention Activity 9

WHERE DO WE WANT TO GET TO 10

HOW WILL WE GET THERE

6 Prevention 11

7 Protection 12

8 Response 12

9 Information and Communication 13

10 Inter-agency and Partnership Working 14

11 How will we report on performance 15

12 Engaging those affected by our approach to road safety 15

13 Inclusivity 15

14 Training & Development 15

15 Responsibilities 16

16 Review & Evaluation 16

17 Delivery Plan Summary 16

Appendix A - Background Statistics 19

Appendix B – You said, we did (consultation outcomes) 24



Introduction Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) deals with the consequences of Road Traffic Collisions (RTCs), and the impact they have on human life and our communities, on a daily basis. In fact, we are now called to rescue significantly more injured people from road traffic collisions than from fires. Over the last 10 years, significant progress has been made to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads. Nevertheless, more needs to be done. So through the co-ordinated implementation of this strategy we will support our partners to achieve further significant reductions over the next decade. No agency can be solely responsible for reducing the number and impact of Road Traffic Collisions; consequently, the focus of this strategy is to embed our approach within the arena of partnership working with other agencies involved in road safety, and to provide a strategic commitment to this issue. Of course emergencies will still happen so we will continue to prepare our Emergency Response personnel for all potential RTC rescue scenarios, and respond with appropriately trained and equipped crews as quickly as possible to carry out rescues and make scenes safe.

Indeed, Section 8 of „The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004‟ places a statutory duty on GMFRS to respond to and rescue people from Road Traffic Collisions. Injuries and deaths from RTCs are a global public health concern. Across the world, an estimated 1.2 million people are killed in RTCs each year, and up to 50 million people are injured.1 In May 2011 a United Nations „Decade of Action for Road Safety‟ was launched by the World Health Organisation which aimed to dramatically reduce the number of people killed and injured on the roads worldwide over the next 10 years. Department for Transport (DfT) statistics show that, in 2010, there were a total of 208,648 casualties on the roads of Great Britain, with 22,660 being seriously injured and 1,850 people killed (5 people every day).

But RTCs do not affect everyone in the same way and particular groups of people are disproportionately affected. We know, for example, that RTCs represent the leading cause of death for young adults aged 15-242 in the UK, and they account for over a quarter of all deaths in the 15-19 age group. Drivers under 25 years of age are 7 times more likely to be involved in an accident on the road, especially during their first 2 years of driving. We also know that children and older people are more likely to be injured or killed while crossing the road.3 The Department for Transport has estimated that each road death costs the economy £1.59 million, equating to approximately £2.9 billion nationally. In Greater Manchester the annual average cost of all RTC casualties is estimated to be over £341 million4. This strategy sets out how GMFRS will support the recommendations set out in the Government‟s „Strategic Framework for Road Safety‟ published in May 2011.

1 World Health Organisation: „World report on road traffic injury prevention‟. Geneva: World Health Organisation 2004.

2 Office for National Statistics, register of Deaths, 2007

3 Road Traffic Accidents: A Review of Evidence for Prevention: Wood, Bellis and Watkins Sept 2010

4 Monitoring of Road Safety Performance, 4

th Nov 2011 Transport for Greater Manchester Report.



GMFRS already has an active role in the community within this area of work and we will expand and develop initiatives and partnerships to achieve our purpose and aims. This Road Safety Strategy supports a number of the Delivery Goals we have outlined in our Corporate Plan. If successful it will:

Reduce the number of emergency calls (DL1)

Reduce deaths and injuries from fires and other emergencies (DL2)

Reduce crime and disorder (DL3)

Continually improve our service, providing value for money and a balanced budget (DL10)

Place fire stations at the heart of communities, valued and used by local people, organisations and partners (DL11)

Provide improved quality of life outcomes for communities (DL12)

Develop and sustain a high quality, performing, effective, well informed and well trained workforce (DL14)

Develop and maintain a committed, enthusiastic and healthy workforce including volunteers with high levels of satisfaction (DL15)

Reduce our carbon footprint, use of natural resources and deliver our services in a sustainable way (DL17)

Develop and maintain a safe workforce with low rates of accidents and injuries to our people (DL18)

Provide for better community outcomes through equitable service delivery by a workforce that is representative of our collective diversity (DL19)

The European Commission is also playing a major role in the effort to make Europe‟s roads safer. It has established the „European Road Safety Charter‟5, to which all stakeholders are invited to sign up. Organisations signed up to the Charter not only receive European recognition for their commitment to road safety work, but also the ability to exchange knowledge and good practice with other signatories across Europe. Through the implementation of this Road Safety Strategy, GMFRS will be in a strong position to sign up to the Charter. The implementation of this strategy also supports the broad expectations of fire and rescue authorities set out in the draft „Fire and Rescue National Framework for England‟, requiring each FRS to “identify and assess the full range of fire and rescue related risks their areas face, make provision for prevention and protection activities and respond to incidents appropriately”. 1. Scope To achieve success in delivering against our aims and goals this Strategy focuses on

Prevention The range of educational and engagement activities that GMFRS develop to prevent the occurrence of Road Traffic Collisions

Protection: How GMFRS will influence the design and development of vehicles and the built environment to improve road safety

Emergency Response: Improving how we respond to Road Traffic Collisions, and improving the intervention techniques and equipment we use to reduce the impact on individuals involved.

5 www.erscharter.eu



Information and Communications: The development of effective Information, Communications and Technology systems to improve our understanding of road risk, and thus where, how and to whom we deliver our Prevention activities.

Partnerships: How we work with our partners to ensure a cost effective, intelligence led approach to further improving road safety in Greater Manchester.

Where we are now 2. Background In 2000, the Government published “Tomorrow‟s Roads: Safer for Everyone”, a National Road Safety Strategy incorporating casualty reduction targets. The aim of this strategy was to dramatically reduce the number of deaths and injuries that occurred on our roads every year, and to encourage a multi-disciplinary approach with various partners in the community working together to deliver the strategy. It was believed that this could be achieved by applying a four-strand approach which would encompass improved education, enforcement, engineering and encouragement. The national strategy encouraged all Highway Authorities to adopt their own local targets, publish their plans, carry out casualty reduction schemes, education, training and publicity initiatives, monitor their actions, evaluate progress and publish outcomes. The targets were to be achieved by 2010, and based on the averages for the years 1994 – 1998. As can be seen from Table 1 below, the targets set by the Government in 2000 were successfully exceeded by 2010. In Greater Manchester as a whole, there was a 42% reduction in Killed or Seriously Injured (KSI) casualties during this 10 year period. At a borough level, the reductions varied from between 20% in Bury, to 58% in Wigan.

Table 1: National and Greater Manchester (GM) performance against 10 year targets 2000 – 2010

Target set for 2010

(% reduction)

2010 actual (% reduction)

2010 GM actual

(% reduction) Reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions

40% 49% 42%

Reduction in the number of children aged 0 – 15 killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions

50% 64% 58%

In contrast, traffic rose by an estimated 13% over this period.



Appendix A provides a detailed breakdown of statistics and information relating to road traffic collisions in Greater Manchester. The following is a synopsis of that information:

During 2010, 54 people were killed and 689 people were seriously injured in RTCs in Greater Manchester. Including minor injuries, there were a total of 7,587 casualties in Greater Manchester during this period.

The group identified as most at risk of becoming casualties in an RTC were the 15-19 age group, with the highest road casualty rate in Greater Manchester at 517 per 100,000 population compared to the general population rate of 292 per 100,000 population. Those aged 16 – 25 years are at significantly greater risk of injury both as a car driver and car passenger.

Those aged 0 – 15 year olds are at significantly greater risk of injury both as pedestrians and as cyclists. Children between the ages of 10 and 12 are the highest risk group of pedestrian injury.

Whilst car occupants account for the majority of overall casualties, the risk of being killed or seriously injured is much higher for pedestrians, motorcyclists and pedal cyclists.

Pedestrians accounted for 38.8% of the KSI total.

An age breakdown of casualties at RTCs attended by GMFRS identifies that 16 – 30 year olds account for 46.6% of the casualties we assist.

When we compare collisions on different road types per 100 million vehicle kilometres, the results show that motorways are far safer than either A roads or B roads, with only 10 casualties per 100 million vehicle kilometres, compared with 61 and 64 on A roads and B roads respectively.

In February 2007, The Audit Commission published „Changing Lanes‟, a report which reviewed current methodologies to tackle road deaths and injuries. The report stated that the biggest challenges in reducing road accidents are around changing road users' attitudes and behaviour. Engineering improvements continue to make the road infrastructure and vehicles safer, but accidents will still happen as long as road users take risks, deliberately or simply thoughtlessly. In order to assist Local Authorities and partner agencies to address these challenges, the Audit Commission has produced a self assessment toolkit which encourages all key partners to ask a set of practical questions about the way they address road safety issues in partnership. These questions are being considered within the Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership, where partners are currently mapping out how we need to work together in the future. 3. The Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership (GMCRP) The Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership (GMCRP) brings together key partners to take a strategic approach to improving road safety across Greater Manchester. The partnership is led by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and includes Transport for Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Police, Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service, the Greater Manchester Health Commission and the Highways Agency. Each partner is developing a protocol and working practices through the GMCRP to ensure that overall governance is maintained by GMCA and to clarify the roles of each partner in assisting GMCA in carrying out its transport functions.



Through co-ordinated partnership efforts and an intelligence led approach, the GMCRP aims to use available resources to target road safety interventions in the most cost effective way. As a key partner, GMFRS will influence, support and co-ordinate identified priorities of the GMCRP. 4. PESTLE Analysis

Political Through the Localism Act the current Government is easing back on central control and shifting greater responsibility and accountability to those delivering and receiving services. The Government is providing a framework for local decisions to be made by the community itself for the benefit of the community under the fabric of „Big Society‟. This is apparent in the area of road safety as we are seeing increased flexibility in terms of target setting and partnership decision making. The Department for Transport‟s „Strategic Framework for Road Safety‟ aims to provide clarity to local authorities, road safety professionals and other stakeholders on their roles and responsibilities in improving road safety. It sets out the increased freedom that is being given to local authorities in assessing and acting on their own priorities. While this national strategic framework does not set any new targets in relation to reducing road traffic collisions, it does provide direction to local authorities and partner agencies in terms of where their efforts may be best targeted in order to continue to improve road safety over the coming years. It encourages all Highways Authorities to adopt their own targets, publish their plans, monitor their actions, evaluate progress and publish outcomes. Within this Strategic Framework the Transport Research Laboratory has produced some forecasts for killed and seriously injured casualties for 2020 and 2030. Projections by the Transport Research Laboratory6 indicate that similar reductions in the numbers of people killed or seriously injured on our roads could be achieved over the next 10 years as were achieved over the last 10 years. However, a number of factors including the reduction in funding for local road safety teams may affect the ability to achieve these reductions.

Economic Central and local government spending cuts have had a significant impact on road safety partnerships. Staff turnover and loss of experience within the arena of road safety has been recognised as a threat to effective service delivery by the Department for Transport.7 Partnership and inter-agency working has generated efficiency savings, for example the delivery of targeted multi-agency education campaigns. Government funding within the transport arena has seen a shift away from road safety towards sustainable transport solutions, such as improvements to public transport links and improved commuter cycling facilities.

Socio-cultural Road safety is an issue which spans all socio-demographic groups. However, the risk of suffering injury on the roads has been shown to be higher for people living in some of our most deprived areas8 and for this reason we must target our road safety interventions and messages with a cognisance of these patterns.

6 Strategic Framework for Road Safety, Department for Transport May 2011.

7 DfT Road Safety Research Report No. 124 „Delivery of Local Road Safety‟ Sept 2011.

8 TIIG Injury Surveillance in the North West of England: Road Traffic Collisions in Greater Manchester: an analysis of

emergency department, ambulance and hospital admissions data 2010.



Technological Car manufacturers have made strong efforts and have dramatically improved passive and active safety measures in their vehicles over the last 20 years. Advances such as Side Impact Protection Systems (SIPS), airbags and Automatic Braking Systems (ABS) are all contributing to increased driver and passenger safety. Technological advances also continue to benefit road safety in terms of improved options for speed detection on the various road networks. By designing in safety manufacturers have presented different problems for fire and rescue services. Anti-roll cages, airbags, pneumatic dampers and new fuel systems present additional risks and challenges for emergency crews responding to RTCs.

Legal By virtue of Section 8 of the Fire & Rescue Services Act 2004 a Fire and Rescue Authority must make provision for the purpose of protecting people from serious harm, to the extent it considers it reasonable to do so, in the event of RTCs in its area.

Environmental Over 30% of the current CO2 emissions in Greater Manchester are produced by the movement of people and goods from around the country. The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) Executive approved the Greater Manchester Climate Change Strategy in August 2011, committing us to an objective of further reducing our carbon emissions. 5. GMFRS Current Road Safety Activity For many years GMFRS has delivered education programmes, which include road safety elements, to children and young people at various stages in their lives. These programmes will be embedded within our Children and Young People‟s Strategy. Examples include:

Junior School Children: Interactive workshop style events for year 6 children, which includes pedestrian safety messages delivered by our local authority partners.

Secondary School Children: Our Community Safety Advisors deliver road safety awareness sessions to older school children in year 11 in schools identified by our risk analysis.

Further and Higher Education: Through our Community Safety Advisors, delivery of a targeted approach to educating young people who are beginning to engage in driving, regarding the dangers of speed, driving whilst under the influence of alcohol or drugs and distraction such as mobile phones.

Alternative provision for Young People: o Firefly is aimed at young people between the ages of 11 and17 who may be

experiencing difficulties in engaging with school or their peers. It includes an element of road safety awareness.

o Prince‟s Trust Team is aimed at young people aged 16 – 25 and is an accredited scheme aimed at helping young people gain new skills and qualifications. The scheme includes an awareness of road safety and reducing risk taking on the roads.

Our Community Safety Advisors and Emergency Response officers deliver driver awareness sessions to young people in 6th forms and in some colleges as they reach driving age, often including extrication demonstrations. In some areas of Greater Manchester our staff have developed joint working arrangements with Youth Offending



Teams. They are engaging with some of the young people already involved in car crime and much more at risk of causing injury and death due to their offending behaviours. GMFRS has co-ordinated and supported various road safety initiatives and campaigns aimed at road users in Greater Manchester including:

Seat belt and child car seat initiatives: Joint initiatives with the police and local authorities, whereby car occupants who are found to be not wearing seatbelts are diverted into educational programmes run by GMFRS. Talks to parent and toddler groups have been delivered on the importance of the correct fitting and use of child seats

Drink driving campaigns: Summer and Christmas campaigns have been co-ordinated in collaboration with partners to raise awareness of the dangers and consequences of drink / drug driving

Speeding initiatives: Various awareness sessions and resources have been developed by GMFRS and our partners to deter motorists from speeding

Driver engagement days: GMFRS regularly supports national days of road safety activity, through the co-ordination of events at key locations on our road networks.

Where do we want to get to? The Purpose of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service is "to protect and improve the quality of life of the people in Greater Manchester." To achieve our purpose, the Fire and Rescue Authority has set out six key aims. This Strategy is structured to primarily deliver against one of those aims - Prevention - in which we aim to „engage with Greater Manchester‟s communities to inform and educate people in how to reduce the risk of fires and other emergencies and do all we can to prevent crime and disorder‟. Our primary, but not sole, focus is to reduce the number of RTCs where casualties are trapped in vehicles and so reduce the number of times we are called out to such incidents. We will however continue to support partners, especially as a key member of the Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership, in other priority road safety improvement areas. Rather than setting new targets, the Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership has made a projection that the number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads of Greater Manchester could be reduced by a further 40% by the year 2020. (Baseline is the average 2005 – 2009) In adopting the Government‟s vision to work towards meeting these projections locally, it must be acknowledged that road safety budgets and services, especially those within the local authorities are currently seeing significant cuts, and the likely long term effect of these cuts in terms of casualty rates is still unknown. Table 2 below demonstrates Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership‟s Vision 2020 forecast, based on analysis undertaken at a county level by Transport for Greater Manchester‟s Joint Road Safety Group and Highways Forcast and Analytical Services.



Table 2: Projected reductions in KSI casualties in Greater Manchester by 2020.

Baseline average from 2005 - 2009

2020 projected number of KSI‟s

No. reductions to meet projection baseline - 2020

916

551

365

HOW WILL WE GET THERE GMFRS will support the achievement of the Greater Manchester projections set out above by developing how we deliver our service and by concentrating on five key areas of our organisation. The detailed activity under each of these areas will be set out in a detailed GMFRS Road Safety Delivery Plan, which we will develop in collaboration with our partners. Within each area, there are activities on which GMFRS will lead, and others where we will support the work of partner agencies or help influence legislative and national initiatives. Our Head of Prevention will establish a Road Safety Steering Group which will include leads from all of the key departments within GMFRS. This group will meet quarterly to review progress in the development areas and identify key areas of work required to make further progress. 6. Prevention a) We will develop our education and engagement programmes with road users and

pedestrians, ensuring that we are working with our partners to target this engagement activity in a cost effective way, taking cognisance of the most at risk groups. Our key target group will be the 16 – 25 year old age range, who account for a disproportionately high number of RTCs, with road traffic collisions being by far the single biggest cause of death for this age group.

We will ensure that there is a consistent programme of engagement on all boroughs

and will support and enhance existing work being carried out by our partners. We will extend this work to reach those young people who may not be engaged in education or employment by further developing working practices with our partners providing youth support.

b) We will develop a range of educational resources with specific target groups in mind,

(Colleges, Universities, training and employment schemes, Youth Offending Teams, Driving Test Centres, Princes Trust and Restorative Justice Programmes, ) and ensure that our area community safety staff and operational fire fighters are equipped to deliver these at a local level.

c) We will support our partners in delivering road safety educational inputs to other

target groups, including pedestrian and cycle safety to children, road safety for older people, and helping to promote motorcycle safety schemes. We will work with our Estates Department to develop our facilities to assist with these interventions, and we will ensure that our Asset Management Strategy outlines any foreseeable requirements. We will also explore the opportunities to deliver specific road safety messages to target groups whilst undertaking our statutory fire safety prevention work.



d) Our Campaigns Coordinator and Other Emergencies Coordinator will develop how

we can support local, regional and national road safety initiatives in collaboration with our partners in the Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership.

e) We will explore the potential procurement of a Driving Simulator and we will work in

collaboration with our Health and Safety department to ensure that GMFRS personnel continue to be educated in safe driving policies, e.g. the Mobile Phone Policy. In addition, we will develop and promote a Safe Drivers Charter with all staff and share this with partner agencies. In line with our Sustainability Policy we will explore the opportunity of incentivising employee schemes such as car sharing.

f) We will support schemes which divert more drivers found guilty of less serious driving

offences onto educational courses as an alternative to prosecution. We will support the Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership in the development of future education and training initiatives targeting drivers who are not covered by the National Driver Offender Rehabilitation Scheme.

g) We will work with our risk analysts to target all of our Road Safety prevention activity

to high risk groups and geographical areas. While we have regular access to problem profiles based on police data, the information we currently collate at the RTCs we attend does not provide us with a rich understanding of the causes and nature of those incidents. Developing our information and communication processes will help address this, and allow for better targeting of prevention and reassurance interventions aimed at specifically reducing our call outs to RTCs.

7. Protection a) We will work with other Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) and partners under the

leadership of the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) to influence car manufacturers and other companies involved in vehicle production. We will continue to provide input to local authority engineers involved in road maintenance to constantly improve the safety of their products and the road network. Where possible we will use our influence to help improve the built environment to protect people, property and the environment from the harm associated with RTCs.

b) Working with our partners we will influence developments to improve vehicle safety

design, including fire service vehicles. c) Working with partners we will work to influence safe national speed limits, such as the

further development of 20mph zones. d) Working with our risk analysts we will identify high risk locations on the roads and

influence the planning process, where possible, to reduce these risks. e) We will support the police and local authorities in the implementation of enforcement

and traffic calming schemes. 8. Response

a) The Fire & Rescue Services Act is explicit in requiring GMFRS to maintain an

effective response capability for the attendance at, and effective intervention in the event of, RTCs. GMFRS provides specialist equipment and training of personnel in



extrication techniques, casualty care and incident management. We will consult with our Emergency Response crews that regularly attend RTCs to continuously review this equipment and training, and where necessary provide additional and improved trauma, extrication, and retrieval skills training for emergency response personnel. This will include the adoption of relevant qualifications in casualty care/ trauma.

b) All GMFRS staff who have to drive under „Blue Light Conditions‟ are required to

undertake a specific advanced driving course, and refreshers are conducted at regular intervals to ensure skills are maintained. We will review our „Drive to Arrive‟ Policy to further reduce and maintain the low risk of collisions we have already achieved involving our emergency vehicles. We will continually review the training of our staff in relation to „blue light‟ response.

c) We will plan and prepare for emergencies that are reasonably foreseeable and make

a high quality, effective and resilient response to them. GMFRS will continue to ensure that its workforce is suitably trained to deal with any emergency situation that may occur on the road network of Greater Manchester and, where necessary, assist in cross border incidents. We will attend RTCs in accordance with our response standard. By providing the most appropriate response possible to RTC call outs we can assist in reducing the numbers of people who die from their injuries.

d) We will carry out some analysis of call‟s received to attend RTC‟s to further

understand the intricacies of the incidents, and identify any potential for increased robust call challenge.

e) Our „Health & Wellbeing Strategy‟ underpins the Corporate Plan, specifically in DL18,

where it sets out to develop and maintain a safe workforce with low rates of accidents and injuries to our people. Following attendance at a traumatic incident such as a serious RTC, our emergency response staff are provided with support in line with our „Critical Incident Debrief Policy‟. This policy aims to reduce the emotional and psychological effects that could be experienced by staff following an incident. A team of 1st contact volunteers has recently been established to help deliver this policy, and the effectiveness of this support to staff will be continually monitored and improved where appropriate.

f) The experience our Emergency Response crews have in rescuing casualties from

RTCs makes them well placed to help deliver road safety messages and demonstrations to key target groups. We will bring together their experience and expertise, with the specialist training skills of our Community Safety Education Team (CSET) to ensure that Emergency Response staff involved in road safety educational programmes have the right resources and skills.

9. Information and Communication a) This development area will determine how we communicate both internally and

externally on road safety issues. We will work closely with our Business Intelligence and Knowledge Management (BIKM) department and our Information, Communications and Technology Directorate to develop appropriate systems for the capture and sharing of relevant data and information between GMFRS and partners, including other fire and rescue services

b) A recent research report published by the Department for Transport9 identifies that

9 Department for Transport Research Report No. 124 „Delivery of Local Road Safety‟ Sept 2011



“There is scope to make better use of existing datasets (such as Stats 19, the

Police‟s road casualty data base) through better data analysis techniques and the use of other data to provide a more complete picture of the local road safety issues.”

c) In collaboration with the Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership, we will

improve data collection and information sharing with our partners to ensure that all of our activities to improve road safety are delivered in a cost effective, intelligence led manner. We will further develop our understanding and use of data and analysis available through the Highway Forcast and Analytical Services, and MAST services. Opportunities for sharing and analysing GMFRS and partnership data will be explored to further improve our understanding of the trends, causes and nature of RTCs we attend, and so inform our prevention activity. Leadership and oversight in this work area will be provided by our Consultation, Research and Assurance Group (CRAG)

d) We will establish consistent lines of communication with Greater Manchester Police

following serious RTCs to gain a fuller understanding of the burden placed on our service and how we might prevent and reduce this.

e) With the guidance of our Corporate Communications Directorate we will deliver

consistent road safety messages to the people who live and work in Greater Manchester through partnerships with other road safety professionals, and by supporting national and regional themed campaigns.

f) We will implement appropriate and effective systems for the sharing of road safety

information to our staff, including the development of our intranet site to provide and promote resources, best practice and national and regional intelligence.

g) We will establish clear communication and partnership working systems with FRS

that neighbour our Service to address cross border road safety issues. 10. Inter-agency and Partnership Working a) We will continue to participate in, and be a key player of, the Greater Manchester

Casualty Reduction Partnership. b) We will maintain a regional and national focus through participation at the CFOA

North West Road Safety Group and links to the CFOA National Road Safety Group. c) In line with our Partnership Strategy we will establish and further develop

relationships with existing and new partnerships at local, regional, national and international level, to ensure GMFRS are best placed to deliver against our Purpose and our partners‟ visions, missions and aims.

d) In collaboration with our partners, we will seek and access relevant funding

opportunities allowing for the delivery of road safety initiatives. f) We will use our influence as a key partner in supporting the introduction of Graduated

Driver Licensing in the UK.



11. How we will report our performance We will work with colleagues in our Corporate Planning and Performance Directorate to ensure that we gather suitable information to enable accurate reporting against the projections set in Table 2 above. This performance will be reported to the Prevention and Protection Committee annually. We will ensure that systems are adopted to capture, monitor and evaluate our road safety activity. The Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership will continue to monitor positive interventions and RTC trends externally. 12. Engaging those affected by our approach to Road Safety and engagement. In line with our Consultation and Engagement Framework, we fully consulted with our stakeholders. Our approach to consultation included:

Who we will consult with

How we will consult with them

What questions we will pose

How they can respond

The time period for responses A full copy of our Consultation and Engagement Framework can be requested by emailing [email protected] Details of responses of the consultation can be found in Appendix B. 13. Inclusivity This Strategy, and all policies and action plans related to it, will take account of cultural diversity to ensure that our services are delivered equitably and in a manner that meets the needs of the diverse communities we serve. This Strategy and related documents has been subject to an Initial Impact Assessment (Appendix 3).

14. Training and Development This Strategy will be supported by a training plan constructed in line with the People and Organisation Development Strategy, produced by the Head of Organisational Development, which will outline the training requirements for all Prevention, Protection and Emergency Response staff tasked with delivering our Road Safety Strategy. This training plan will ensure that all staff and volunteers tasked with undertaking RTC prevention activities receive appropriate training to deliver against their responsibilities. We will work collaboratively with our partner Fire and Rescue Services in the North West, and with road safety professionals within Greater Manchester, to develop standardisation of road safety training where appropriate.

mailto:[email protected]



15. Responsibilities Responsibility for the delivery and monitoring of this Strategy rests with the following post holders:-

Director of Prevention and Protection is responsible for the delivery and review of this Strategy.

Head of Prevention is responsible for the development and delivery of this Strategy. The monitoring and reporting of this strategy will be carried out through the establishment of a GMFRS Road Safety Steering Group which will meet quarterly. This Steering Group will be chaired by the Head of Prevention and will consist of Lead Officers, Borough Road Safety Champions and the Other Emergencies Co-ordinator.

The Central Support Team within the Prevention and Protection Directorate is responsible for the development and delivery of all policies, procedures and protocols that support this Strategy.

Community Safety Managers and Borough Managers are responsible for the delivery of this Strategy through their Action Plans.

All Emergency Response, Prevention and Protection staff, and Volunteers are responsible for the delivery of Prevention activities during their normal working day/ volunteering hours.

16. Review and Evaluation This strategy will be reviewed and evaluated on an annual basis to ensure that it:

Continues to meet the needs of the Authority, business community and the people of Greater Manchester, and

Delivers against its stated objectives, is effective and provides public value. 17. Delivery Plan Summary This Delivery Plan details how we will implement the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Road Safety Strategy:

No. Goal Delivered in

2012/13 2013/14 2014/15

1 Establish a GMFRS Road Safety Steering Group to oversee the delivery of the strategy

2 Identify and map all current road safety education activity with 16 – 25 year olds

3 Develop an educational package for road safety aimed at the 16 – 25 age group

4 Deliver a train the trainers programme to ensure that all relevant FRS personnel are equipped to deliver the package

5 Each borough will produce and deliver a road



safety education delivery plan for 16 – 25 year olds based on risk

6 Produce regular evaluation reports of the road safety education programme for 16 – 25 year olds, including casualty data and attitudinal and behaviour change

7 Establish robust partnerships with local authority road safety teams to support educational interventions for all at risk road users

8 Support and deliver 4 themed road safety initiatives / campaigns in line with the themes agreed by the Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership and CFOA

9 In conjunction with the Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership, develop and implement a Safe Drivers Charter which all partnership employees will be invited to sign up to, including GMFRS personnel, Volunteers and Elected Members.

10 Co-ordinate, further develop and evaluate our partnership initiatives to educate drivers who are not wearing seatbelts

11 Ensure appropriate representation at the Transport Strategy Group and relevant partnerships, including the Casualty Reduction Partnership and the Network Management Partnership in order to support and influence the development of safer roads and vehicles Develop and agree protocols and working practices to define our contribution such forums.

12 Influence the development and delivery of the Operational Strategy in line with the Golden Hour Philosophy to ensure that casualty trauma and injury is minimised

13 Analyse call‟s received to attend RTC‟s to further understand the intricacies of the incidents, and identify any potential for increased robust call challenge.

14 Consult and liaise with the GMFRS Trauma Trainer to ensure that our Road Safety Strategy supports the best possible training and development of our emergency response officers

15 Consult and Liaise with the Occupational Health and Wellbeing Advisors to review post incident support to our emergency response staff attending RTCs

16 Review and further develop the involvement of our emergency response officers in road safety interventions with the public

17 Improve our capacity to understand the RTC problems in Greater Manchester through



increased data sharing and mapping with our partners both at a GM and borough level

18 Develop both our intranet and website to include comprehensive road safety sections containing downloadable advice and resources.

19 Purchase, utilise and evaluate a driving simulator for use by our staff and at community and educational events

20 Monitor and evaluate the use of the road safety exhibition trailer on the Trafford Borough, and identify potential funding streams to duplicate this initiative

21 Further develop information sharing opportunities with other FRS‟s through increased use of the CFOA Communities website and attendance at regional and national forums

22 GMFRS to sign up to The European Road Safety Charter



Appendix A

Background Statistics and Information on Road Traffic Collisions within Greater Manchester This information has been provided by Transport for Greater Manchester‟s Highway Forcast and Analytical Service. Table A provides a breakdown of all casualties over a 3-year period in Greater Manchester by casualty type. Table A: Casualty Type: Greater Manchester 2008 - 2010 (all casualties)

Casualty Type Number of Casualties

2008 2009 2010 Pedestrian 1699 1436 1314

Pedal Cycle 761 752 733

Motorcycle 604 518 479

Car Driver 3,909 3,741 2,906

Car Passenger 2,243 2,318 1,727

Bus 365 272 210

Goods Vehicle below 3.5 tons 163 158 104

Goods Vehicle above 3.5 tons 52 37 41

Other 85 71 73

TOTAL 9,881 9,303 7,587

Table B provides a breakdown of killed or seriously injured casualties over a three year period in Greater Manchester by casualty type. Table B: Casualty Type: Greater Manchester 2008 - 2010 (Killed or Seriously Injured: KSI)

Casualty Type Number of Casualties

2008 2009 2010 TOTAL % of TOTAL

Pedestrian 346 291 286 923 38.8

Pedal Cycle 92 85 117 294 12.4

Motorcycle 167 148 139 454 19.1

Car Driver 122 143 118 383 16.1

Car Passenger 94 106 56 256 10.8

Bus 6 5 9 20 0.8

Goods Vehicle below 3.5 tons

4 4 5 13 0.5

Goods Vehicle above 3.5 tons

4 4 4 12 0.5

Other 8 8 9 25 1.1

TOTAL 843 794 743 2,380 100.0



The Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership has conducted further analysis using the statistics shown in Tables A and B to identify the actual risks to casualty types based on the proportion of types of vehicles and ages of casualties. Findings include the following issues:

Whilst car occupants account for the majority of overall casualties, the risk of being killed or seriously injured is much higher for pedestrians, motorcyclists and pedal cyclists.

Motorcycles only account for 1% of traffic on our roads in Greater Manchester but 19.1% of the KSI total.

Pedestrians accounted for 38.8% of the KSI total. Children between the ages of 10 and 12 are significantly more at risk of becoming pedestrian casualties.

Car occupants made up 27% of the KSI total, while pedal cyclists accounted for 12.4%.

Primary causes of road traffic collisions in Greater Manchester In order to address the problem, there is a need to be clear about the main causes of injuries and deaths on our roads. 95% of these collisions involve human error, such as distracted drivers or pedestrians, loss of control, or misjudgement of speed or distances. Therefore, the most important contribution we can make through our prevention interventions is to help change the attitude and behaviour of road users in Greater Manchester. Table C below details the main causation factors as categorised by the police. Table C: Most common principal causation factors in injury related road traffic collisions in Greater Manchester in 2007 – 2009 (STATS 19)

Factor No. of collisions (all)

No. of collisions (Killed or seriously

injured) Driver / rider failed to look properly

5,984 643

Driver / rider failed to judge other person‟s path or speed

3,473 274

Pedestrian failed to look properly

2,249 552

Poor turn or manoeuvre 2,239

Driver / Rider careless / reckless / in a hurry

1,943 263

Loss of control

305

Total

15,888

2,037

„Speeding‟ is not a single separate causation factor which is currently recorded by the police, so it is difficult to quantify how many collisions involved speeding vehicles.



Further analysis of police data conducted by the Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership indicates that 30% of collisions involving serious injuries or fatalities involved speeding vehicles. The DfT has recently estimated that if a vehicle travelling at 40mph hits a pedestrian, they will be four and a half times more likely to die than if the car had been travelling at 30mph. Therefore, partnership interventions to prevent and reduce speeding on our roads are likely to be an effective approach to reducing the numbers of people killed and seriously injured. While figures relating to drink driving are not reflected in the statistics above, Greater Manchester police conducted 3,860 positive breath tests on drivers in 2010, and 212 collisions occurred where the driver / rider was found to be over the legal alcohol limit. Breakdown of Casualties by Age Group in Greater Manchester Table D below provides a breakdown of the number of road casualties in Greater Manchester over a 3-year period broken down into age groups. This information can help us to think about how we might target our prevention activity. Table D: All casualties by age group in Greater Manchester 2008 – 2010

Age group

Total number %

0 - 15 1156 13

16 - 20 1314 15

21 - 25 1160 13

26 - 30 1073 12

31 - 35 736 8

36 - 40 798 9

41 - 45 697 8

46 - 50 571 6

51 - 55 400 4

56 - 59 255 3

60+ 763 9

Total

8924

100

Whilst Table D above gives us a snapshot of the age groups most likely to become road casualties, a further breakdown by „user group‟ shows that:

It is 16 – 25 year olds who are at significantly greater risk of injury both as car driver, and car passenger

It is 0 – 15 year olds who are at significantly greater risk of injury both as pedestrians and as cyclists

An age breakdown of casualties at RTCs attended by GMFRS identifies that 16 – 30 year olds account for 46.6% of the casualties we assist



Child Casualties in Greater Manchester 2008 – 2010 A reduction in the number of children killed or seriously injured on our roads continues to be a government priority. In Greater Manchester partners have extensive programmes in schools to help improve children‟s road safety knowledge at key stages. Figure 1 below demonstrates the road safety risks for children up to the age of 15.

Figure 1: Child (aged 0-15) KSI Casualties 2008 - 2010 Greater Manchester

Figure 1 clearly supports the continuation of education for children in relation to pedestrian safety, as 77.5% of children killed or seriously injured on our roads are pedestrians. Further analysis demonstrates that cycle casualties increase from age 10 upwards, evidencing the importance of the continuation of Level 2 cycling programmes at year 6. These interactive programmes help ensure that children learn about safe cycling before starting secondary school when they are more likely to be cycling independently on the roads (these inputs are delivered by local authority road safety units). Ten year trends (2000 – 2010) in reported child KSIs in Greater Manchester have shown some very encouraging reductions. In Greater Manchester as a whole, child KSI casualties in 2010 had reduced by 58% compared to the base years of 1994 - 1998. The number of child KSI casualties had already met the 2010 national target of a 50% reduction for the fourth consecutive year. RTCs involving injury to GMFRS staff whilst on duty Table E below summarises the numbers of RTCs involving fire service vehicles where there an injury was reported to the Health and Safety Department. The figures are accurate as of January 2012. Note: The figures below do not represent injuries which may have occurred such as essential car users in their own vehicles who have their own insurance.



Year

No of RTCs No of staff injured

2006 10 10

2007 9 14

2008 7 16

2009 8 18

2010 8 21

2011 2 6



Appendix B

WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE ROAD SAFETY STRATEGY CONSULTATION? As an organisation, we have a commitment to meaningful consultation. We want to hear what people think; inviting people to influence our direction by telling us their views about our proposals. Whilst this strategy was a draft document, we undertook a robust and detailed consultation period; talking to different people and organisations about the strategy and how it might impact upon them. The consultation activity was proportionate to the level of change suggested within the draft strategies and included; workshops, online surveys, citizen forums and use of our social media channels. We are satisfied that this activity fulfilled any of our statutory and moral obligations to talk about our plans with local people; and in our commitment to being open and transparent all of the feedback that we received and the final summary report is available on our website and a hard copy can be sent out on request. This strategy represents the outcomes of the consultation activity; comments that we have received which have influenced our final strategy. The information below outlines four stages of the consultation feedback;

1. What were our proposals?

This section outlines what we were initially proposing in the draft strategy, pre-

consultation.

2. What did you say about them?

This section outlines the broad and predominant comments that we received from the

consultation activity, by those who engaged with the consultation.

3. What are we going to do about them – and by when?

This section tells you what we plan to do about the comments that we received; where

they can impact upon our plans and what we will change about the way that we work,

as a result of the comments.

4. Where has this feedback impacted upon the strategy?

This section highlights where the specific comments have impacted upon the final

strategy and the subsequent actions.

If you have any questions or comments about the approach or outcomes of the consultation activity or if you would like to see the final report or a copy of all of the responses then the Consultation and Engagement Officer can be contacted on [email protected]

What were our proposals?

What did you say about them?

What are we going to do about them – and by when?

Where has this feedback impacted upon the strategy?

We proposed to deliver

You said that 16 is too late to deliver road safety training – young

We are working closely with our Local Authority road safety partners who’s statutory responsibility it is to deliver

The strategy already refers to; supporting

mailto:[email protected]



road safety training for 16 – 24 years olds.

people are already influenced by that age.

road safety education to children. Most local authorities have comprehensive programmes at all key stages. In areas where funding cuts prevent this delivery, we are supporting partners in developing interactive resources that can be provided to schools to deliver road safety awareness internally so that all children in Greater Manchester will receive appropriate education throughout their school life.

partners in the delivery of road safety education to children and the use of our risk model to identify priority locations. This is reflected on page 11 of the Road Safety Strategy and also within our Road Safety Delivery Plan.

You also said that we should be looking at targeting private schools where young people are more likely to be able to afford cars, or at places of employment that have a high rate of young people working there.

Our 16 – 25’s Road Safety Education Package will be flexible for delivery in a variety of settings, including places of employment. We will target delivery of the package in line with risk assessment based on the numbers of young casualties by home location.

We have expanded a paragraph on page 14 of the Strategy to explain how we will use and analyse data to ensure that our interventions reach those most at risk.

You also said that we should be working with the insurance industry to try and develop benefits for younger drivers for safe driving.

In addition to this, we are currently working with the Motor Insurer’s Bureau to ensure that we include correct messages about motor insurance within our road safety programmes with young people. We will discuss with them the potential to develop benefits for young drivers who engage with us.

This issue has not been detailed in the Strategy, but is incorporated into our Young Drivers education programme.

You also said that we should be looking at influencing legislation, so that younger people can only buy certain cars.

As a member of the Transport Strategy Group, we are in a position to influence road safety legislation. There is currently no legislation to prevent young drivers from buying certain cars, although insurance premiums deter young drivers from choosing high velocity vehicles. We will continue to support partners in Greater Manchester to influence safer roads and vehicles.

We recognise that we could have an influential role in developing safer roads and vehicles; this is reflected in the Draft Road Safety Strategy on page 12. At this point, we do not feel it would be



appropriate to specifically say that we will influence legislation to prevent young people from buying certain cars. However, we will consistently review national and local regulation relating to young drivers to identify appropriate developments for us to support.

We proposed that we would look at developing interventions for road traffic offenders.

You said that this was a good idea and you could understand why we wanted to work like this, but that we should work with partners to ease work in an area that isn’t our core objective.

We currently work with partners in this area; supporting Greater Manchester Police and road safety partners in the delivery of enforcement initiatives to encourage seatbelt wearing. Other driving offenders such as those caught speeding are already diverted to statutory courses co-ordinated by Transport for Greater Manchester.

Our role in relation to the delivery of interventions to traffic offenders is already a supportive one, and is currently under review due to new national courses becoming available. Page 12 of the Road Safety Strategy has been amended to reflect this review, and the Road Safety delivery Plan will be updated as this review progresses.

In addition to this, we are also supportive of partnership seasonal campaigns such as drink driving campaigns with the aim of reducing RTC’s relating to particular behaviours.

Page 12 of the Road Safety Strategy already outlines our support of seasonal partnership



campaigns.



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