PACTS Annual Review 2010-2011

In his report, which is included in the Annual Review, PACTS’ executive director, Robert Gifford, said:

“The last year has clearly been dominated by coming to terms with the new coalition government and with its approach to policy and to policy-making. Very early on, several themes emerged as central to the new government: deficit reduction, the Big Society, localism and a reluctance to set targets for policy delivery. Each of these has had an impact on transport safety.

“In road safety, one of the first decisions taken by the government was to end capital spending on safety cameras and to reduce the revenue grant paid to local authorities for road safety work. This grant was scheduled to end in March 2011 in any event but the decision to take immediate action did cause much concern among road safety professionals, especially as it was accompanied by headlines such as ‘Government plans to end the War on Motorists’.

“PACTS expressed concern about this decision for two reasons. First, there is clear evidence (subsequently confirmed in a report for the RAC Foundation by Richard Allsop) that, in the right place, safety cameras are an effective intervention that save lives. Secondly, casualty reductions are more likely to be achieved by organisations working together in partnership – the grant had enabled effective partnerships to be established at local level. It is important to ensure that these partnerships continue in the new environment.

“The issues of localism and targets have been at the centre of the debate about the new Strategic Framework for Road Safety, published in May 2011.

“PACTS supports the view that decisions about priorities and about allocation of resources should be made at the most appropriate local level. At the same time, it is also clear from international evidence that those countries adopting a target for casualty reduction achieve higher levels of reduction than those without. A target does not pre-empt local decision-making. Rather, it helps to provide a collective goal and encourage professional commitment.

“It was therefore disappointing to note that the new framework only talks about forecasts for casualties and that these forecasts themselves are not much tougher than the direction in which recent trends were already heading. The overall fall in casualties has now been sustained over 15 successive quarters. The challenge will be to see whether that progress can be maintained in a time of greater financial restraint.

“PACTS was invited to give oral evidence to the Transport Select Committee as part of its inquiry into drink and drug driving. The evidence given to the committee, especially by Sir Peter North himself, was overwhelmingly in favour of further action to cut drink and drug drive casualties. The Committee clearly acknowledged this in its final report that supported many of his recommendations. It was, however, disappointing that the Committee chose not to recommend an immediate reduction in the maximum permitted Blood Alcohol Content, focusing instead on the long-term aim of achieving a BAC of 20mg. While such a long-term goal is laudable, it allowed the government to kick the issue into the long grass when it published its response to both the North Review and the Select Committee report in March.”