Memorandum by Nottingham City Council
(RTS 09)
ROAD TRAFFIC SPEED
1. INTRODUCTION
The City of Nottingham has a population of 280,000
people living in an urban environment. It is a vibrant commercial
centre and has a transport network which reflects its strategic
importance in the East Midlands. Vehicle speeds on the network
are frequently above the legal limits, and often inappropriately
high for the nature of the environment the drivers encounter.
This has resulted in the City Council taking action to deter speeding
where there is evidence that excessive speed is resulting in personal
injury casualties. Traffic calming, Home Zones, and Safer Routes
to School projects have been used to reduce vehicle speeds in
residential areas. Digital speed cameras and mobile speed cameras
have been used on the strategic routes. This work is supported
through road safety education and evaluated through detailed monitoring.
The work is also undertaken in partnership with Nottinghamshire
Police, Nottinghamshire Magistrates Courts Service, The Highways
Agency and Nottinghamshire Area Health Authority. For this reason
the City Council feels it is in an ideal position to contribute
to the House of Commons Select Committee.
2. LOCAL EVIDENCE
OF HOW
CASUALTY SAVINGS
CAN BE
ACHIEVED BY
MANAGING TRAFFIC
SPEEDS
In March 2000 the DETR completed a review of
policy and published New Directions in Speed Management. This
document continued to support the general view that a 1 mph speed
reduction will result in a 5 per cent reduction in casualties.
This relationship has been repeatedly confirmed with the introduction
of traffic calming in Nottingham. A recent review has demonstrated
the following speed reductions and casualty savings using data
amalgamated from 44 local safety schemes:
| Type of Traffic Calming
| Mean Speed in MPH BeforeAfter
| Per cent Reduction in
Casualties
|
| Round Top Road Humps (18 schemes) | 24.7
| 13.7 | 51 per cent
|
| 1.9 m square Cushions (19 schemes) | 28.8
| 15.1 | 61 per cent
|
| 8 m Plateau (7 schemes) | 29.7
| 18.8 | 64 per cent
|
Monitoring has shown that daytime noise levels are reduced,
ground borne vibration has never been sufficient to cause any
damage to property, pollution effects have been minimal and the
features do not cause damage to well maintained vehicles driven
over them at appropriate speeds. However, it should be noted that
traffic calming is still unpopular with some motorists. The Fire
Service, Ambulance Service and Bus operators will only support
the use of cushions on the strategic emergency routes and bus
routes. However, because of the casualty savings that can be achieved
from traffic calming, for a relatively modest cost, it will continue
to be used in Nottingham.
In April 2001 Nottingham became one of the 8 pilot areas
to introduce "netting off". This is a process whereby
revenue from paid fixed penalty notices can be used to purchase
equipment and fund increased enforcement on routes identified
because of their high casualty levels. This project has had a
dramatic effect on vehicle speeds and casualties on the targeted
routes. There has also been a significant reduction in fatal and
serious casualties across the City as a whole. Appendix 2 shows
the casualty savings that have been achieved, and a more detailed
report on the project is available from the City Council.
3. NOTTINGHAM CITY
RESIDENTS' VIEWS
ON TRAFFIC
SPEEDS AND
SPEED ENFORCEMENT
After crime, the speed of traffic was the second most mentioned
concern of residents when they were surveyed in a City Council
opinion poll. Speeding traffic is also one of the most frequently
mentioned topics in letters to the Traffic Management Service
Area. With the introduction of the "netting off" process
it was necessary to closely monitor the public opinion of residents
as the levels of speed enforcement were increased in the City.
Appendix 1 contains the results of the first opinion survey. The
survey indicates strong local support for action to deter speeding
and demonstrates an increasing awareness of the relationship between
vehicle speeds and casualties. A second survey has been commissioned,
and the results from this will be analysed in January 2002.
4. TACKLING THE
PROBLEM THROUGH
ENGINEERING, EDUCATION
AND ENFORCEMENT
Nottingham has introduced an integrated approach to speed
management, using education, engineering and enforcement in a
complimentary manner. In discussions about dealing with vehicle
speeds, the public often polarise to a single view, eg "the
Police should clamp down on speeding", or "the council
should spend more time on education rather than penalising the
innocent motorist". These views fail to take account of the
fact that any open approach on its own is doomed to failure. For
example, the City Council and its partners could not deal with
speeding in residential areas through the use of enforcement,
digital cameras or education. Because of the lack of Police resources,
and the high cost of cameras, self-enforcing traffic calming
is the only viable option. Education in these situations can help
to improve the attitude of the public and it makes the measures
more acceptable. However, education won't work on its own because
motorists continue to speed despite extensive publicity. In very
specific situations publicity and education has had a short-term
effect on vehicle speeds, as is the case with "check speed
30" signs. However, a sustainable speed reduction is dependent
on engineering and enforcement.
It is equally true state that any speed management strategy
will not work unless all the elements are brought together in
a partnership embracing the Highway Authority, the Police, the
Magistrates Courts Service, the Highways Agency and the Area Health
Authority. This is true irrespective of whether an area is participating
in the 'netting off' project or not. Without this approach it
is all too easy for organisations to see speeding problems as
someone else's responsibility. In the Nottinghamshire County Council
area for example, speeding motorists are very strongly seen as
a matter for the Police to deal with. This has led them away from
participating in the "netting off" despite the obvious
casualty saving benefits.
5. A STRATEGY FOR
FURTHER IMPROVEMENT
The Government has made an excellent start in promoting a
coherent speed management policy through the publication of the
DETR review. Also, the "netting off" process has given
partnership areas the chance to make a stepwise reduction in casualties
with the speed offenders paying for the safety improvements. However,
there is considerable room for improvement as follows:
— Driver Education—Speeding motorists
are currently excluded from the National Driver Improvement Scheme
in which drivers are referred for training after committing due
care and attention offences. The City Council runs training under
this scheme and would welcome the opportunity to run specific
courses for speeding motorists.
— Home Office Type Approval—Manufacturers
of speed enforcement equipment are hindered and deterred by the
long delays that occur in obtaining Home Office approval. This
is not to question the need for the process, just that it should
be sped up. Nottingham operates the worlds first digital camera
system that measures average speeds by reading number plates at
different locations and calculating vehicle journey times. The
operation of the system is bound up with so much government red
tape that its full potential cannot at present be realised. For
example, the computers that manage the system must be placed at
the roadside rather than in police stations. This is supposedly
because 'the pubic won't accept remote enforcement'. However,
the City does just that with CCTV and there are no technical reason
why the computers can't be housed in police stations where the
data is more secure. Also, the computers can manage up to six
pairs of cameras but are only approved to monitor one.
— Knee Jerk Responses to Press Articles—Some
of the national papers can be hostile to speed enforcement, speed
cameras and traffic calming. It is essential that these activities
are evaluated in terms of their effectiveness, and not what a
reporter, who has often done little or no research, thinks of
them. In a recent Guardian article for example, a reporter
claimed that we had taken out some of our cameras because they
were "not making the revenue expected". To be fair to
the Guardian it subsequently retracted the article when
the inaccuracies were pointed out. In fact the City is installing
more cameras at the moment, not to make money, but to save casualties.
If all the drivers complied with speed limits then there would
be no revenue from "netting off". However, in this unlikely
scenario the casualty savings would be enormous, as would the
financial savings from the reduced levels of hospital treatment,
lost income, vehicle damage, property damage, emergency service
costs, and costs associated with pain grief and suffering.
— Overt Versus Covert Operations—In
December 2001 the Government instructed all police forces to make
speed enforcement operations as overt as possible. This included
requirements to paint all camera housings bright yellow and to
sign all the approaches to a speed camera length. This is directly
opposite to the approach taken by the Victoria Project in Australia.
After 10 years of intensified speed enforcement the Australians
have switched to highly covert operations. This was because drivers
were only complying with speed limits in the presence of cameras.
In all other locations speeding vehicles continued to be a problem.
We would strongly advise the Government to learn from the Australian
experience. There needs to be some covert speed enforcement to
ensure that speeding does not go unabated on roads where there
are no cameras. These roads are often the quieter residential
areas in the City. The recent Government approach could be compared
to instructing undercover drug squad officers to always wear a
visible police badge.
— Speed Regulation—Preliminary research
has already indicated the casualty savings that could be achieved
by vehicle speed governors. Whilst they may be unpopular to the
public at present, the Government should continue to support the
research which will facilitate their future implementation. Over
the next 10 years the aim should be to make speeding as socially
unacceptable as drink driving. This change of attitude would facilitate
the introduction of speed governors to all new vehicles, thereby
reducing the need for traffic calming, enforcement and speed cameras.
— Police Resources—The police have
limited resources and the allocation to the enforcement of traffic
offences is often cut in an attempt to deal with what the public
see as more pressing problem such as crime. This process devalues
the seriousness of traffic offences, and exposes society to falling
standards in driver behaviour. Staffing guidelines should be set
for all Police Authorities so that traffic policing is not reduced
to unacceptable levels.
— Motor Vehicle Advertising—Motor manufacturers
still place emphasis upon vehicle speed and performance in their
advertising. There is scope for increased regulation in this respect.
Contact Details—Dr Stewart Thompson, Road Safety Service
Manager
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