Scotland's Road Safety Framework to 2030

In order to address current and emerging challenges, the following twelve Strategic Actions have been identified. These are meant to be overarching, and are not allocated to any nominated road safety partners. They must be seen instead as the collective responsibility of all stakeholders and road safety partners, labelled throughout the naming of the actions as “we”.

They will have to be translated and expanded into sub-actions through the development of both national and local delivery plans which will sit outwith the framework. These plans should be flexible, in order to address current and emerging casualty or danger trends.

The delivery of the strategic actions underpinned by the sub-actions contained into subsequent national delivery plans will be monitored through the three-tier structure of the framework governance and reported through national annual reports.

Speed: we will deliver a range of speed management initiatives to support the Safe System.

Education: for example social marketing campaigns or (potential) speed awareness, as part of wider Road Traffic Diversionary Courses, will be key to ensuring road users understand why speed limits are set in any particular area and the need to comply with them. Driving/riding to the conditions, particularly in bad weather and on congested roads, is an important skill to gain.

Engineering: A National Speed Management Review will be undertaken in 2021 and 2022. It will look at what appropriate speeds mean in a Scottish context and recommend changes to national speed limits accordingly. It will support a range of policies that assists those government national outcomes and indicators that are relevant to this area. Related policy drivers include better road safety and health outcomes, promotion of active travel, climate change mitigation, place-making and economic growth.

Enforcement: of speed through traditional use of road policing, and fixed and mobile safety cameras will also form part of this strategic action. Continuing to embrace new technology and opportunities, such as processing dashcam footage will also be key to achieving success.

Climate: we will deliver road safety initiatives that positively impact the climate emergency and we will mitigate the negative impacts climate change may have on road safety.

In relation to climate change adaptation, road users will need to gain the knowledge, skills and experience required under extreme weather conditions to become safe and responsible.

Employers and employees should be encouraged to apply the Severe weather: fair work charter in order to mitigate road safety risk within their organisations. By smoothing traffic flow, good speed management has the potential to reduce emissions and improve air quality. As far as promoting greener, cleaner choices is concerned, the new Framework consistently applies the NTS2 Travel Hierarchy to road safety matters.

Funding & Resourcing: we will improve funding streams for national and local road safety delivery.

A national Road Safety Improvement Fund will be considered to help road authorities meet the challenging 2030 road casualty reduction targets. Road policing will also remain a key priority for Police Scotland. All road safety partners should seek to utilise opportunities across relevant policy areas. This will assist in achieving shared outcomes with the overall aim of reducing casualties and improving our road safety performance.

Change in Attitudes & Behaviour: we will engage in partnership working to enable all road users to understand their road safety responsibilities, allowing them to improve their attitudes and behaviours for the safety of themselves and others.

Over the next three years and at the national level we will implement a national conversation on road safety to encourage greater personal responsibility and a change in perception which, ultimately, should lead to a transformation of the road safety culture. The over-riding priority is to highlight the traumatic and lasting impact of road users killed or seriously-injured on communities and the costs to everyday people and their families; while also important to the economy, the emphasis should not simply be about the inconvenience of road closures and delays to one’s travel. Any road users must be free from road harm as well as free to walk/cycle/wheel/ride/drive. Potential activities could include a road safety week with planned events; an online knowledge portal; social media campaigns; and competitions for children and their parents/carers. Educating road users throughout their lives will be key as well as ensuring changes to the Highway Code are well communicated.

Technology: we will research, implement and evaluate technologies for use within the Safe System and promote them as appropriate.

As technology is rolled out in vehicles, as part of the infrastructure, or directly to road users, it will be very important to monitor the delivery of Scotland’s CAV roadmap. This will allow us to research and evaluate the impact that technology may have on road safety. Consideration of potential distraction that in car technology may have on road users.

Active & Sustainable Travel: we will ensure road safety remains a key focus of active & sustainable travel in Scotland.

The current push towards more active and sustainable travel needs to consider road safety issues and outcomes from the initial concept/design phase. In addition, active travel initiatives will have to support tackling the so-called ‘safety in numbers’ effect. Active & sustainable travel contributes to better place-making which, in turn, contributes to safer places, thereby improving the perception of road safety.

Knowledge & Data Analysis: we will ensure our actions are evidence-led to support the delivery of the Safe System.

Embedding the Safe system means any road safety initiatives under each of the five pillars are backed up by evidence and then fully evaluated, not only in terms of success in delivery, but also the longer-term success of their road safety outcomes. In addition to utilising revised STATS 19 data following the completion of the current review, we need to ensure we can access and harness data from a variety of sources, be it hospital data, academic research, the motor insurance industry, vehicle manufacturers (through telematics, pre-collision data for research on in-depth collision investigation), or technology companies (through mobile phone data, etc.). This will enhance road safety outcomes.

Enforcement: we will optimise enforcement to encourage good road user behaviour to support the Safe System.

Enforcement of the rules of the road spreads across most of the five pillars of the Safe System. Safe road use, such as: seatbelt and speed limit compliance; driving unimpaired by drugs and/or alcohol; and the maintenance of a safe fleet through the MOT regime and insurance checks should contribute to safer roads. Although the correlation between enforcement, improved compliance and safety does not imply a causal relationship – as it is difficult to isolate the impacts of enforcement from other factors, the presence, and/or threat, of enforcement, combined with suitable road user education is deemed essential to deter people from taking risks and endangering others. Vulnerable road users are more affected by non-compliant road discipline, than are users of any motorised vehicle. Enforcement methods should also embrace emerging technology which would make it more efficient. Tougher sanctions, albeit reserved to the UK Government, may provide Police Scotland with opportunities to utilise more effective enforcement techniques.

Health: we will strengthen the relationship between health and road safety, reduce the likelihood, number and severity of collisions and improve the post-crash response.

Systematic cross-referencing of casualty data from STATS 19 and health (in terms of hospital admissions data) will provide a clearer overall picture of road collisions in Scotland, particularly suffered by Vulnerable Road Users. In addition, the sharing of road safety and health resources together at national and local level should realise more benefits than would have been achieved using the same resources separately. It should be better value for money to prevent casualties in the first instance, thus saving health resources which could be re-directed to caring for other patients, rather than treating road casualties. This was demonstrated through the COVID-19 pandemic when we as a nation adapted our approach to avoid overwhelming the NHS during lockdowns when everything was done to avoid overwhelming the NHS with other than COVID-19 related patients.

Education: we will provide opportunities for all road users to gain the knowledge, skills and experience required to become safe and responsible
users.

Education is critical to position road safety as a lifelong-learning process. Given the importance of early years, it is vital that learning starts at an early age. We will ensure Curriculum for Excellence allows appropriate time for road safety education. At the same time, we will ensure road users will have access to learn and enhance their road safety knowledge. This will improve their road user experience, demonstrating positive road safety attitudes throughout their lives.

Engineering: we will improve road infrastructure and maintenance.

The delivery of this Strategic Action which covers road design, new road infrastructure and maintenance of the existing road infrastructure is a fundamental element to meet the Strategic Outcome of Safe Roads and Roadsides. Following inclusion of increased funding for asset management in the draft Infrastructure Investment Plan, STPR2 Intervention 17 – Investment in the strategic road network asset – recommends to make the case for that investment in renewing and improving Trunk Road Carriageways, Structures and Ancillary Assets. The increased investment will bring a number of benefits: safety, economic benefits, jobs, connectivity, resilience, reliable journey times and customer satisfaction. A high quality, well maintained and efficient network also supports other Scottish government programmes for Active Travel, development of Connected and Autonomous Vehicle infrastructure and Bus Priority Investment, and thereby contributes to the low carbon economy. The programme would also include schemes being developed for the Removal of Accessibility Barriers (e.g. tactile paving, dropped kerbs, bus shelter and bus stop improvements, improved footway widths and crossfall) to assist pedestrian and wheeling access on the trunk road pedestrian network and for access to public transport, supporting equality. The Scottish Government will also publish ‘Cycling by Design’ guidance in early 2021 and develop a strategy to support the wider implementation of 20 mph speed limits. Recognising that 94% of the total Scottish road network are roads under responsibility of local authorities, the Scottish Government will consider the development and implementation of a Road Safety Framework Improvement Fund. This could include a proactive approach to road safety by undertaking a risk mapping exercise on all routes. In addition to more traditional road safety measures, this may identify where investment could be targeted to improve the maintenance and upgrading of roads, kerbsides and pavements.

Inequality: we will reduce road safety inequality due to socio-economic disadvantage of people living in areas of deprivation.

Latest data from the MAST analysis platform on road safety indicates that the overall casualty rate in the most deprived 10% SIMD (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation) areas is 1.6, which is higher than the rate of 1.0 for the least deprived 10% SIMD areas, between 2015-19. This casualty rate has declined since the 2006- 10 period where it was 1.4. The delivery of this strategic action is highly intertwined with the delivery of the strategic actions on Speed, Change in Attitudes & Behaviour, Active & Sustainable Travel, Enforcement and Education where road safety initiatives will ensure that areas in the most deprived 10% SIMD are covered in their geographical scope. For example the national speed indicator will have speed counters installed in such areas, and any national road side surveys on seat belt-wearing and mobile-phone use will cover these areas. This Strategic Action is supported by the following Intermediate Outcome Targets. The casualty rate for the most deprived 10% SIMD areas is reduced to equal the least deprived 10% SIMD areas. The delivery of this Strategic Action will be monitored through the tracking of this Intermediate Outcome Target. In addition areas of deprivation will become safer once a more cohesive and comprehensive national network of safe well-designed walking and cycling routes, including these areas is delivered through the delivery of the Active Travel Framework and Intervention 7 – Reallocation of roadspace for active travel of STPR2.

The table below provides a snapshot view of how each of the strategic actions have the potential to address a number of challenges, allowing for some kind of prioritisation of these actions to maximise their effect.