Objective 6: Improving transport safety

Summary of Objective

Objective 6 commits NCC to following the Safe Systems approach. We work as part of the Road Safety Partnership to give priority to reducing the rate of deaths and seriously injured casualties. We do this by delivering a range of initiatives and trials of new technology.

Policies

Policy 17: Using the Safe Systems approach, the county council and road safety partners will work together to contribute to a reduction in the number of people killed and seriously injured on the road network.

Objective 6: delivery highlights

Norfolk Speed Limit Strategy

The Cabinet approved the strategy at its meeting on 30 January 2023.

Joint road safety operational delivery plan

We monitor all work carried out by the road safety partnership in a joint road safety operational delivery plan. This encourages positive scrutiny, behaviour change models and reduces duplication. It also supports applications for joint funding opportunities from the Safety Camera Partnership. 

Local Safety Schemes Programme

As of January 2024 the 2023-24 Local Safety Schemes Programme was forecast to deliver £1.154m of safety schemes. This includes the £700,000 Caister bypass Vehicle Restraint System scheme. We've identified new safety schemes totalling £522,000 for delivery in 2024-25. 

Transforming Cities Fund

In 2024 the DfT's Transforming Cities Fund delivered a £4m improvement at the Heartsease five ways junction in Norwich. For decades it had the highest accident rate of any junction in the city. It now caters for the needs of all road users, especially those walking, wheeling and cycling.

Safety and traffic management studies

Scoping work has taken place for the A140 Norwich to Cromer iRAP study. This is an infrastructure safety management system which is a core pillar of a Safe Systems approach to road safety.

Several other local member and parish council-initiated traffic management studies have been taken forward. There is also a safety assessment of around 50 fords on the Norfolk road network.

We've completed two Accident Investigation and Prevention Studies (AIP) in 2024-25 to date. Six local member or parish council-initiated traffic management/pedestrian crossing studies are complete or under way.

The A148 Hillington speed camera project is progressing. It has an anticipated implementation date of autumn 2024.

Road safety

Public Health's road safety team launched its new ambitions in 2023. These are to promote strategies, positive behaviours and skills to reduce risk-taking behaviours that may lead to involvement in a serious collision.

They'll achieve this by working in partnership with Norfolk Fire and Rescue, Norfolk Constabulary and East Anglian Ambulance Service. They'll be using behaviour change techniques and intelligent solutions following the safe system pillars of protection:

• Safe speeds
• Safe road users
• Safe roads
• Safe vehicles
• Post-crash response

The road safety team offer community and school interventions to embed a positive road safety culture. They provide commercial driver, rider and business skills courses alongside delivering the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (NDORS) court diversion initiative.

Road Safety Community Team offers are fully funded and include:

• The safe and considerate parking pledge for primary and secondary schools. This is to encourage a safer school gate environment. Parents are invited to make a promise to park more considerately and, where possible, promote walking, wheeling, and cycling when on the school run. Some 24 schools requested a resource pack.
• Commissioning a Road Safety Magic show for primary schools. The show introduces road safety messages to pupils. These include the green cross code, finding safe places to cross, choosing modes of travel and maintaining focus when travelling. During 2023-24 commissioned delivery, the team delivered the show across 70 schools in Norfolk. This reached 8,047 pupils.

Safe Journey Ahead focuses on upskilling and empowering primary school teachers and youth workers who support children. This is so they can share simple road safety messages in educational settings in ways that best meet the child's learning needs. The funded pilot concluded last year, upskilling 77 teachers and reaching 1,296 pupils.

Bikeability levels 1,2,3, Bikeability fix and family Bikeability is available to primary and secondary schools. We secured funding from the Bikeability Trust via Active Travel England. During this reporting period we secured £220,049 in funding to deliver inclusive courses to those in education or training. The intention was to build confidence and skills based on modern road conditions. In 2023-24 the funding supported 7,095 children who received a Bikeability course.

We delivered three car seat talks during this reporting period.

An Online delivery suite is available for primary and secondary schools.  This includes pedestrian training, seat belt training and cycling theory training (Ride on it). It reached 3,468 children.

Crucial crew is a multi-agency event organised by Norfolk Fire and Rescue. Public Health's Road Safety team and the prevention team in Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service deliver the road safety quiz at this event. The Safety Camera Partnership funds the intervention.

The Over to You Your Choice pilot is offering students in secondary schools the opportunity to discuss and rationalise positive choices to improve road safety behaviours and strategies. This discussion takes in different ways that young people choose to travel.

The pilot concluded with three secondary schools reaching 330 students. A review of the pilot has concluded that the training will now form one our core road safety offers for secondary school students.

Norfolk has been selected to pilot Bikeability Get Cycling. Seventeen teachers across 12 schools are being trained to deliver balance Bikeability. Balance Bikeability is the first step on the learning to cycle journey. It supports children to get used to two wheels and moving the handlebars without the need to pedal. Each school who attended this training received six balance bikes and six bike helmets.

Skills courses

The Road Safety skills team delivered the following skills courses:

• 21,780 clients attended a National Speed Awareness Course
• 1,058 clients attended the What's Driving Us course that supports with behaviour change
• 393 clients were referred for a Safe and Considerate Driving course
• 22 clients received a National Rider Risk Awareness Course

Safe Rider reached 126 motorcyclists in 2023-24. This motorcycle course is delivered in partnership with Norfolk Constabulary. It consists of a five hour, on-road session with a two hour theory session. 

Seventeen clients received the road safety Hugger course. It's designed for motorcyclists with a licence who wish to improve their skills and confidence.

We delivered Guidance for Older Drivers to 70 clients. This provides drivers with bespoke and tailored driving sessions to help them drive well and safer for longer.

We conducted 154 Taxi Tests during 2023-24. This is not a mandatory requirement but many districts have added a taxi test as part of the applicant's process to meet health and safety standards. The road safety team currently complete taxi assessments for Norwich City, Breckland, Broadland and South Norfolk councils.

We completed 449 car and minibus assessments during 2023-24. These assessments are part of a wider health and safety measure designed to support those required to drive as part of their work. This includes teachers using minibuses as part of school activities.

The Honest Truth supports approved driving instructors who are supporting learner drivers. The Road Safety Team secured a three year commissioned contract. In its first year of delivery 23 advanced driving instructors signed up and collectively delivered 690 truths across 183 new drivers. 

Work for next period

Active Travel survey

An Active Travel survey is being piloted with up to 25 schools during 2024-25. This has funding support from Active Travel England and Public Health. This is to empower schools to imbed a culture of road safety and active travel across their schools. It will also support healthy lifestyles and environments.

Crucial Crew road safety quiz

We relaunched the Crucial Crew road safety quiz in September 2024 as a school-led intervention. This enables teachers, youth workers and those who home school children to have access to the quiz in a flexible way.

Stay Focused campaign

We launched the Stay Focused campaign for drivers in July 2024. It offers strategies and tools to remain alert for the whole of the journey and identify signs of being on autopilot and fatigue driving. Find out more about the Stay Focused campaign.

Road safety tour

From April 2025 we are seeking to secure two providers to deliver a road safety tour to promote a step change approach to road safety learning. This will be available for primary and secondary schools.

Car seat talks

We'll continue to advertise and promote car seat talks across Norfolk County Council to help upskill staff and volunteers who are transporting children.

New road safety campaigns

Three campaigns are in development with the support of the Road Safety Partnership during 2023-24. This includes a campaign to support older drivers, motorcyclists and cyclists.

Online Safety Sessions

There are plans to develop our current online Safety Sessions, which include Pedestrian, Cyclist and Seatbelt Safety. This is for students with special educational needs and to transfer the offer to a recorded delivery. This will make them more flexible for teachers/school staff to deliver to a wide range of students with additional learning needs.

The Flourish ambition highlights the importance of access to learning, so we're working to enable a flexible approach.

KSI figures

Killed or seriously injured (KSI) figures show that in 2022-23 454 people were killed or seriously injured on Norfolk's roads. This is a decrease of 18 from 2021-22.

However, in 2023-24 there were 517 KSIs on Norfolk's roads, an increase of 63 from the previous year. Monthly KSIs were a fair bit higher in July, August, and September 2023 compared with 2022. This will have cumulatively affected the number for the 2023/-24 fiscal year.

We'll therefore seize opportunities for investment into engaging approaches and best practice that support the safe system approach and invest in behaviour change programmes.

Network Safety will continue to identify Local Safety Schemes to treat accident cluster sites throughout 2024-25.

We expect that Network Safety will also be carrying out parish and member led ad-hoc pedestrian crossing assessments and traffic management studies.

We monitor for cluster sites on the network (sites with five or more collisions in a three-year period) on a quarterly basis. Any identified sites are then considered for further investigation.

Public Health now have ownership of the road casualties metrics. Highways still deliver infrastructure or engineering solutions.