Tackling the Deficit: Checking the Health of Road Safety

The third in the Tackling the Deficit series, this report outlines the policy context and analyses the current situation for local authorities in England.

The report series aims to give snapshot views of the road safety profession. The first was published in October 2010 following the election of a new government, and the second in March 2011 following the 2011/2012 Local Government Finance Settlement.

This third report comes at a time when local authorities have experienced budget cuts, and we can begin to study how they are coping and what support they require to move forward. The report is a combination of desk-based research and analysis of survey responses.

Key findings
Findings from the survey suggest that local authorities have seen successive years of budget reductions. Asked “Do any of the following factors put your statutory duty to promote road safety at risk?” 50% answered “Yes” to at least one of the following factors: staff numbers, staff skills, finance or organisation.

Compared to this time last year, 65% of local authorities have seen reductions in the budget allocated to road safety engineering with a reduction in output of 60%.

Over 62% saw a reduction in staffing between 2010/11 and 2011/12. Over a third have seen these reductions continue in the current year.

When asked about the impact of the current Strategic Framework, 44% thought it had had no effect on road safety, with 39% believing that the impact had been negative.