--- title: "Merseyside Roads Casualty Reduction Project" type: "pdf" year: "2007" canonical: "/projects/769" --- # bOTICE # Table of Contents - [bOTICE](#botice) - [Herman Goldstein Award](#herman-goldstein-award) - [SUMMARY](#summary) - [Merseyside Roads Policing Casualty Reduction Project](#merseyside-roads-policing-casualty-reduction-project) - [Scan](#scan) - [Analysis](#analysis) - [Response](#response) - [Assessment](#assessment) - [Herman Goldstein Award](#herman-goldstein-award) - [Scanning](#scanning) - [Herman Goldstein Award](#herman-goldstein-award) - [Analysis](#analysis) - [Herman Goldstein Award](#herman-goldstein-award) - [Response](#response) - [Partnership working](#partnership-working) - [Offender](#offender) - [Location](#location) - [Victim](#victim) - [Herman Goldstein Award](#herman-goldstein-award) - [Assessment](#assessment) - [Abbreviations](#abbreviations) ## Herman Goldstein Award ## SUMMARY ## Merseyside Roads Policing Casualty Reduction Project ## Scan In 2000, the government set targets for casualty reduction across the country and by the year 2004, Merseyside were off target to achieve these. However this could not be the main driver for improvement. At the start of this project around 60 people per year were dying on the roads in our county and a further 600 per year receiving life-changing injuries. Government targets notwithstanding, no large organisation with any sense of social responsibility could morally continue to provide a service to the community without doing all they could to eradicate this blight on the people they serve. As a result of competing requests for resources we believe that at this time Merseyside Police could not say this about casualty reduction, a feeling echoed by some of our partners in the community. ## Analysis Road safety is a shared responsibility between The Police and Local Authorities, with other agencies also taking responsibility for sections of the problem. Road traffic casualties are not necessarily the subject of a "Crime", or even anti social behaviour, but we know that the communities affected by such incidents all feel that a crime against the community has been committed whenever someone dies on the roads and that such collisions are not acceptable in our society. A road death victim has historically been seen as the forgotten victim, with little mention in the National press other than when multiple deaths are involved. In reality, this event can destroy a community, and certainly ruins the lives of countless close family members. Add to this the financial burden to society of people who receive life-changing injuries, lose their jobs, their mobility and sometimes their homes and become to rely on friends and relatives for everyday living. Furthermore the effect of the 600 people every year who are involved in this class of collision becomes a huge concern to the community as a whole. ## Response At the beginning of 2006, Merseyside Police began a series of initiatives aimed at both the reduction of casualties from road traffic collisions and the support of victims of such incidents. These initiatives were organised under the umbrella of "The Roads Policing Business development plan", managed by the central Roads Policing Department, with the intention to improve the safety of the roads on Merseyside through the intelligent use of existing resources. The plan was developed in conjunction with partners who also had an interest in road safety and focussed on enforcing legislation and changing attitudes to road traffic offences by highlighting their anti social and occasionally criminal nature. ## Assessment We believe that as a direct result of the changes and opportunities created by this project, deaths on the roads of Merseyside reduced by 18 during 2006, with life changing injuries down by a further 65 on the 2005 figures. # Herman Goldstein Award ## Scanning In 2000, the Government recognised the need to address the numbers of people killed and seriously injured on the roads of Britain. In order to achieve this, it set challenging casualty reduction targets for all counties for the year 2010, based on the average number of casualties recorded between 1994 and 1998 in the following categories: - Adults - 40\% reduction in the number of fatalities - Children - 50\% reduction in the number of fatalities - All - 10\% reduction in the number of slight injuries In real numbers this represented a reduction of 333 people killed or seriously injured from a baseline of 833 in 2000, to 500 in 2010 Virtually everyone uses the roads every day, as drivers or as pedestrians. With 30 million vehicles in Great Britain, the roads are busy and hazardous. The unlawful and anti-social use of vehicles affects people's safety and sense of security. Bad road use also contributes to the 3,500 people killed and 35,000 people seriously injured each year on the roads. In Merseyside alone in 2005, there were 64 fatal casualties and 645 seriously injured. This gave a total of 709 casualties against the government's target of 668. The most common causes of collisions and injuries resulting are: - Excessive speed - Failing to conform to traffic signals or signs - Failure to wear seat belts - Driving whilst under the influence of drink or drugs - Dangerous and careless driving. The perception of the public is that the commission of road traffic offences is not as socially unacceptable as other criminal activity. The commission of such offences is not directly linked to the subsequent effect on victims of collisions. Similarly the vast majority of police officers have also failed to make the link and prioritise their crime reduction activities much higher than road traffic enforcement. Even the support for victims of such incidents was a second rate service, compared to that offered to victims of crime. There was no synchronized activity through nationally recognised organisations and voluntary organisations were disparate with no coordinated processes to ensure suitable support was available when most required. The existing Roadsafe strategy had already identified the link between robust roads policing and the potential to impact on criminals use of the roads for carrying out crime, the disruption of Terrorist networks and a positive effect on anti-social behaviour. In reality though these benefits were not being realised through any form of coordinated force wide activity. Recent Home Office research has shown that many traffic offenders often commit other serious crimes including; violence against the person, burglary, robbery, handling and drugs offences and we often see anti-social behaviour reflected in driving standards. According to the Home Office, " These findings highlight the potential to disrupt mainstream crime through targeting traffic offenders ". Road safety is a shared responsibility between The Police and Local authorities, with other agencies also taking responsibility for sections of the problem. The Casualty reduction project was created in consultation with the Local authorities, the Fire Service, and the local Road Safety Camera Partnership, all of which assisted with identifying the main issues. Our partners are committed to reducing road casualties and have dedicated resources such as engineering departments and education campaigns to target this area of business. Our partners' commitment to road safety was not reflected by our own in their view. Partnership working was fragmented and the police struggled to coordinate road safety activities with the work of the partners. In actual fact, BCU roads policing activity often conflicted with partnership natural programmes of work. The existing joint agency structure did not manage the road safety agenda and there was a clear need for the joint planning of activity between BCUs and their partners. The partnership structure was unable to evidence the delivery of the Local Transport Plan and the activities to deliver it were not part of the key areas of business for the Merseyside Strategic Planning Group. Analysis of all matters relating to roads policing across Merseyside was disparate. A variety of agencies including the Police, the Fire service, Merseytravel and Local Councils all had independently arranged intelligence structures. These required joining up to produce a single intelligence product at both Strategic and Tactical levels. The Road Safety Partnership structure was not National Intelligence Model (NIM) compliant, as required by the Police and Justice Bill and intelligence capability was required to undertake 6 monthly Roads Policing and safety strategic assessments. A Partnership tactical group needed establishing to ensure level 2-problem solving was delivered across all relevant partnership groups, with a level 2 /force partnership tactical assessment driving a monthly partnership joint agency group dealing solely with Roads Policing/safety issues. This would feed tasks where appropriate to local Level 1 Joint Agency Groups (JAGs). The joint intelligence capabilities needed to assess the effectiveness of all partnership activities on a 6 monthly basis. A structure of this nature would ensure the delivery and future development of the Merseyside Local Transport plan. # Herman Goldstein Award ## Analysis Under the requirements of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1988 Road safety is a shared responsibility between The Police and Local authorities, with a range of other agencies also taking responsibility for sections of the problem. The County response to the problem has traditionally been the Local Transport Plan, which outlines the plans and proposals of all partners working towards this shared goal. The tactical options available within the report are based around the 3 Es of Education, Engineering and Enforcement, and a coordinated response around these would be the most cost effective approach. The development of this plan and the subsequent management of the resources are therefore an important factor in its success. Prior to this project the management of the LTP was performed by a separate group representing the Local Authorities but with no link to the Police or the management of their resources. Road traffic casualties are not necessarily the subject of a "Crime", or even anti social behaviour, but we know that the communities affected by such incidents all feel that a crime against the community has been committed whenever someone dies on the roads and that such collisions are not acceptable in our society. A road death victim has historically been seen as the forgotten victim, with little mention being made in the National press other than when multiple deaths are involved. In reality this event can destroy a community, and certainly ruins the lives of countless close family members. Add to this the financial burden to society of people who receive life changing injuries, who lose their jobs, their mobility and sometimes their homes and become to rely on friends and relatives for everyday living, then the effect of the 600 people every year who are involved in this class of collision becomes a huge concern to the community as a whole. Research has shown that every fatal collision costs the community $£ 1.000,000$ with serious collision costing around $£ 250,000$. The assumption that the number of collisions are inextricably linked to the rate of enforcement force wide is supported by many pieces of academic research, the most recent being a summary of the main literature undertaken by The Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) on behalf of Transport for London (TfL) entitled "How Methods and Levels of Policing Affect Road Casualty Rates". ![img-0.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/07-29/img-0.jpeg) At the current annual rate of prosecutions, it is anticipated that the number of adult KSIs will not reduce further this year. In order to get back in line to achieve the government 2010 target of 410 , a $13 \%$ reduction is required and it is estimated from the above figures that an enforcement rate force wide of around $25,000-30,000$ per year should achieve this. # Herman Goldstein Award ## Response The basis of our response to the issues highlighted revolved around more effective partnership working reinforced by a robust commitment by Merseyside Police to support their obligations to society. Internally the Service level agreements between the central Roads Policing Unit and BCU patrols have been re-written to reflect appropriate responsibilities and ensue that the right people deal with the right job and that everyone knows what they have to do. Externally a Joint Intelligence Team for road safety has been created in Merseyside, with the appointment of a Business Manager, and the allocation of staff on a part-time basis (and in some cases for part of the year) from several organisations, including; Analysts from Merseyside Police, the Merseyside Road Safety Camera Partnership, the Merseyside Fire \& Rescue Service and Knowsley Council. The Team's main role is in serving the Merseyside Roads Safety Planning Group (MRSPG), which in its turn guides the Merseyside Roads Policing response. It has undertaken the analysis for the Local Transport Plan Delivery Report as well as that required to prepare the Business Planning Process including milestone target setting. Its work is integral to the annual strategic assessment of roads policing. Work in hand also includes preparation of Problem Profiles on key topics, again in a NIM compliant manner, plus experimental work designed to be of use in future rounds to help the local analysts in serving Basic Command Units (BCUs). Indeed, experimentation has been the hallmark of the last year, leading to new findings and new ways of working. ## Partnership working During 2006, a number of significant changes have been made to the way in which we operate in respect of Road Safety in Merseyside. The work of the Merseyside Road Safety Planning Group and its long-standing sub-Groups (Merseyside Road Safety Officers Group, Merseyside Data Users Group, and the Merseyside Road Safety Camera Partnership Board) has been supplemented and extended with the formation of Road Safety Joint Agency Groups throughout Merseyside and the setting-up of the Road Safety Joint Intelligence Team. Merseyside Police and other partners have invested greatly in the development and improvement of processes over the last year. Joint Agency Groups for Road Safety have been set up to tie in with the boundaries of the local Highway Authorities and Police Basic Command Units (BCUs) across Merseyside. These have a similar role to that of the Merseyside Road Safety Planning Group but operate at District \& BCU level as Sub-Groups of MRSPG. In most cases they have elected the MRSPG representative of the Local Authority as their Chair, the exception being Wirral JAG, which has appointed a Police Inspector from Wirral BCU. As well as creating an opportunity for greater partnership working at local level - the Local Authorities and Police have been joined by representatives from the Health Service and the Fire \& Rescue Service in the JAG meetings. - The MRSPG-JAG relationship matches that required for the Police National Intelligence Model (NIM), which separates issues into those that represent a strategic threat to Merseyside and those that affect a more localised area. The final result of the changes in working practices has been the coordinated response to casualty reduction activity across the range of partners. Short, Medium and long term strategies based on the traditional Enforcement, Education and Engineering activities are now linked in the most appropriate fashion determined through the joint intelligence facility. # Offender The targeting of offenders through enforcement was the major role provided by the Police in this project. A change in the attitude of police staff to accept the positive effect their actions could have on not only road safety but all crime was a prelude to a huge increase in the number of prosecutions for road traffic offences. The link of enforcement with casualties was highlighted and targets for all officers were set and cascaded through a Roads Policing Strategic group chaired by an ACC to a Tactical group with representatives from all BCUs and the central Roads Policing Unit. Based on the work published through TRRL it was agreed that an annual target of 30,000 prosecutions (Increased from 8,000) by uniformed BCU police staff would have the most efficient effect on casualties. This target would be supplemented by the central department's own commitment to a further 15,000 prosecutions. In addition to this high visibility attack on poor driver standards, the central RPD in collaboration with the Camera enforcement team introduced a mobile speed camera van function staffed by police and charged with the volume prosecution of speeding drivers. The introduction of this van would increase the number of prosecutions across the force by a further 5000 per year. The use of ANPR as a tool against crime and anti- social behaviour as well as to reduce Casualties was used through Operation Tango. Working closely with the Insurance industry and DVLA, uninsured and unlicensed drivers were robustly policed using powers under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA). Offending drivers had their vehicles seized and subsequently crushed to prevent further offences. The Driver Improvement Scheme has been used as a diversionary tactic for drivers accused of low level careless driving offences. As an alternative to prosecution, this scheme looks to re-train drivers who may have picked up bad habits since taking their test. This is also being expanded out to include drivers caught for speeding offences in an attempt to alter the public perception of speeding into an unacceptable activity. # Location When a collision hot spot was identified through the joint intelligence function the most appropriate Engineering, Education or Enforcement approach was adopted through the partnership group. The use of Police enforcement targeting core offences at specific locations through monthly campaigns with spotlight days involving all uniformed officers has become a powerful tool in changing the attitudes of drivers and reducing casualties at specific locations over short periods. This tactic would then be supported by a suitable education or advertising scheme managed by the local authority for medium to long term results and cemented by an engineering solution if appropriate for a permanent solution. Disagregation of the force enforcement targets was also based upon the casualty profile across the force. Table 2 below shows a breakdown of the position of adult KSI numbers based upon an aggregate of the 2002 -2004 figures. A force target of 30,000 prosecutions is then broken down in the same proportions, giving individual BCU targets. It was then agreed that the central Roads Policing department, in line with the strategic assessment and the priority of reducing casualties would concentrate their efforts in the 2 BCUs creating the main strategic threats to the force. At this time for casualty reduction these BCUs are Liverpool North and the Wirral, and their proposed assistance intervention is displayed in column 6 | BCU | Adult KSI | \% age of force total | Proportion of enforcement | BCU contribution | Roads Policing | | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | | A | 155 | 25 | 7510 | 4500 | 7500 | | B | 89 | 14.5 | 4288 | 4288 | | | C | 46 | 7 | 2246 | 2246 | | | D | 71 | 12 | 3454 | 3454 | | | E | 171 | 27.5 | 8294 | 4500 | 7500 | | F | 87 | 14 | 4210 | 4210 | | | Total | 418 | 100 | 30,000 | 23198 | 15000 | | | | | | | | # Victim The approach to victims was also three pronged with intelligence gleaned from Police collision statistics used by Local Authorities to successfully target education packages such as the variation on "Kerbcraft" aimed at children under the age of 7. This particular program followed intelligence highlighting this age group as an area of particular risk within the Knowsley district of Merseyside and specifically targeted them at school during PHSE classes. The Training and Assessment Programs (TAAPs) were introduced to 5 and 6 year olds in an attempt to engage parents of socially deprived children in the road safety agenda. Older victim groups are also being targeted wherever possible, the identification of mature motor-cycle riders have been assisted by means of Bikesafe, an initiative aimed at the reeducation of motor-cycle riders who may have received little or no training since their initial test. The second approach also included the use of Police intelligence being analysed by the Local Authority Engineering departments. As a result of this analysis, traffic-calming measures have been widely introduced in consultation with Police Traffic managers around hot spot locations. Thirdly and possibly most importantly, the care for victims and their families has become a major priority for the Police. The Collision reporting Policy that dictates how officers will investigate collisions has been reviewed and re-written to strongly support the need for victims and witnesses to be kept informed and supported wherever possible. Merseyside Police have also been instrumental in the formation of an independent charity, Aftermath Support, whose only function it is to support the victims of collisions. Using volunteers from the community, the charity researches support agencies, and offer emotional and practical support to victims who can be signposted to appropriate groups who can facilitate their reintegration into society. A victims charter is also in the progress of being researched in order that processes can continue to be adapted to meet the needs and expectations of the community we serve rather than meeting the requirements we think they want. # Herman Goldstein Award ## Assessment The biggest factor to be considered following our change in approach to casualty reduction is the number of people killed or seriously injured as a result of our activity. Due to the fact that collisions and the injury caused thereby are random occurrences based upon a wide range of actions, which cannot be fully understood, to attribute any change in statistics purely to our activity would be inappropriate. However, in 200646 people died as a result of road traffic collisions and 580 received serious injuries compared to 64 dieing in 2005 and a further 645 received serious injuries. This represents a reduction of $\mathbf{2 8 \%}$ in the number of people killed on Merseyside in one year. - In addition to this Knowsley Council have been recognised for their work with child casualties, after receiving a Beacon award for their version of Kerbcraft, the details were disseminated throughout Merseyside through the Road Safety Group. - In recognition of their work supporting Victims, Aftermath Support received funding from The National Lottery of $£ 150,000$ to support the expansion of the service into surrounding counties. - Over 3000 arrests for Roads Policing offences - Public satisfaction significantly raised from $64.3 \%$ to $72.4 \%$ - 48,000 prosecutions for roads policing offences - Operation Tango has seen a total of 10,000 vehicles seized for insurance and driving licence offences, with around $40 \%$ being destroyed. Indications are that this has had an effect on the following areas of policing. - DVLA figures indicate an extra 18,000 owners have taxed their vehicles within the period with a corresponding increase of $£ 9,000,000$ of insurance cover from Merseyside motorists. - The team has built one to one working practice with most of the major finance houses which has resulted in the return of almost $£ 250,000$ worth of vehicles with many more in the pipeline. - By working with city parking services and targeting offenders with in excess of 150 tickets issued and unpaid, 16 primary offenders have had their car seized to date with a total of $£ 25,000$ in fines repaid. - Merseyside had a number of bogus "car traders" who insure with major companies purely to drive unaccountable vehicles. Worse still, one policy has in the past provided insured status for entire extended families and crime gangs as "temporary employees" of the bogus trader. As a result of Tango 7 traders have withdrawn totally and around 40 others now have their details lodged with the Inland Revenue, Trading Standards and the Rates office. - Fire service data covering all fires connected with cars indicates a $28 \%$ reduction overall. ![img-1.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/07-29/img-1.jpeg) - ASB with vehicles has reduced considerably since the legislation became available. ![img-2.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/07-29/img-2.jpeg) # Abbreviations ACC Assistant Chief Constable BCU Basic Command Unit RPSG Road Police Strategic Group RPTG Road Police Tactical Group RSPG Road Safety Planning Group JAG Joint Agency Group PHSE Personal Health and Social Education TAAPs Training and Assessment Programs