Memorandum from Freight Transport Association
(FTA) (RS 20)
INTRODUCTION
1. Freight Transport Association represents
the freight transport interests of businesses throughout the UK.
Its members range from small and medium size enterprises to multi-national
public companies and are involved in all modes of transport. FTA
members operate over 200,000 heavy goods vehicles, about half
the UK fleet, are responsible for 90% of freight moved by rail
and 70% of goods shipped by sea and air. This unique multi modal
mandate enables FTA to speak authoritatively on all aspects of
freight based on the broader transport needs of industry in the
economy.
BACKGROUND
2. Good progress is being made in road traffic
accident reduction in the UK. The Government appears to be on
course to meet its target for reducing the number of people killed
or seriously injured in road accidents by 40% in 2010 compared
to the baseline period of 1994-98. However, the rate of casualty
reduction slowed markedly in 2006 to just 0.6%. If this lower
rate of decline persisted, the casualty reduction target would
be missed. The targets to reduce child casualties and slight injuries
have already been achieved.
SUMMARY OF PROGRESS AGAINST SAFETY STRATEGY
KPIs
| Casualty reduction indicator
| Target (reduction from 1994-98 baseline)
| % change 1994-98 baseline to 2006 |
Progress needed by 2010 |
| Number of people killed or seriously injured
| -40% by 2010 | -33 | -7%
|
| Number of children killed or seriously injured
| -50% by 2010 | -52 | None
|
| Number of slight injuries per 100 million vehicle km
| -10% by 2010 | -28 | None
|
Source: Road Casualties Great Britain 2006
3. The frequency of accidents is falling for all road
user groups—whether the measure used is killed and serious
injury accidents or slight accidents. Factors influencing this
reduction include vehicle design and safety features, traffic
management and road user behaviour.
4. For HGV operators appropriate road safety policy make
good business sense. Minimising the number of accidents and their
severity means costly downtime linked to vehicles and drivers
being off the road can be minimised.
SUMMARY OF PROGRESS BY VEHICLE TYPE AND SEVERITY OF ACCIDENT:
% CHANGE 1994-98 BASELINE TO 2006
| User group | Killed/Seriously injured
| Slight | All
|
| Pedestrians (rate per 100,000 of population)
| -42 | -34 | -36
|
| Cyclists (rate per 100 million vehicle km) |
-42 | -41 | -42
|
| Car (rate of 100 million vehicle km) | -45
| -22 | -25 |
| HGV (rate per 100 million vehicle km) | -40
| -30 | -32 |
| Bus and coach (rate per 100 million vehicle km)
| -45 | -29 | -30
|
| Motorcyclist (rate per 100 million vehicle km)
| -25 | -28 | -27
|
Question 1 To what extent have targets for casualty reduction
been a useful tool for focusing professional activity?
5. Targets for road accident casualty reduction have
provided a context for:
— Maintaining the momentum and focus of the work
of Traffic Commissioners and VOSA on road worthiness inspections
and traffic enforcement—for example drivers hours rules
which aim to improve road safety by preventing professional drivers
driving for longer than is safe to do so. Proposals in the draft
Local Transport Bill included plans to increase the focus of Traffic
Commissioners on bus punctuality issues. FTA rejected these plans,
which were subsequently dropped, on the basis that it would result
on a detrimental effect on compliance in the goods vehicle sector.
— Setting the priorities of police traffic enforcement
activities and accident investigation,
Highways Authority initiatives
— Distribution by VOSA of fresnel lenses at UK ports
to left-hand-drive foreign hgvs has been prompted by the need
to tackle growing incidents of "side swipe" accidents.
Highways Agency report that sideswipe accidents dropped by about
59% during the pilot period.
— Transport for London is planning to issue redesigned
fresnel lenses free of charge to operators in 2008 for use by
hgvs in urban environments to improve visibility of cyclists and
other vulnerable road users.
— Transport for London's Freight Unit is working
closely with the FTA and other industry stakeholders to develop
a Freight Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS). The scheme includes
industry working with the TfL-funded Commercial Vehicle Education
Unit to promote awareness of occupational road risk and develop
in-house preventative strategies for operators.
— The Greater London Authority (GLA) has launched
a "Share the Road" campaign in London enabling road
user stakeholders to gain a shared understanding of the different
needs of road users with the common aim of accident reduction.
— Legislation focussed on reducing road accident
risk and lessening road accident severity has continually evolved,
with new offences developed (such as the ban on the use of hand-held
mobile phones whilst driving) and tougher penalties introduced.
— There has been a greater safety focus for the
instruction and testing of new drivers, additional test time has
been introduced as well as extra questions in the theory test.
— The risks of sleep deprivation and their link
to occupational road risk is an important stream of academic research
and industry best practice advice. The University of Loughborough
is a leading centre for this research and FTA uses its staff and
findings in providing advice for operators and drivers.
6. Targets for casualty reduction also provide a context
for industry road safety initiatives, for example:
— Use of "Well Driven?" as a code of practice
for professional drivers and a mechanism for other motorists to
feedback positive and negative experiences of hgv driving.
— Development of industry accident benchmarking
initiatives as a mechanism for individual companies to identifying
opportunities for improvement and report performance in a consistent
way as a corporate social responsibility indicator.
— Use of accident monitoring/accident records used
as a KPI in driver reward.
— Incorporation into wider workplace transport safety
policies and procedures.
— Awareness raising by the industry for other road
users—such as "If you can't see my mirrors then I can't
see you" stickers on the rear of HGVs.
Question 2 What further measures need to be adopted to
reduce deaths and injuries arising from drinking and driving?
7. The Government could encourage the wider adoption
by companies of blood alcohol limits below the UK minimum threshold
of 80 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, or
indeed zero-alcohol policies for professional drivers, supported
by in-company random checks. However, professional drivers should
not be singled out as a road user group for mandatory lower blood
alcohol limits or a zero-alcohol limits.
Question 3 How does GB compare to other EU countries in
its approach to reducing deaths and injuries?
8. FTA's response to Q1 highlights the role road safety
targets in Great Britain have had in setting enforcement priorities,
compliance standards and conditioning the approach taken to road
safety for operators of commercial vehicle fleets. The strong
road safety culture among UK commercial operators relative to
foreign carriers is illustrated by the following table taken from
the Summary of Evidence from the joint FTA/RHA/HM Treasury Haulage
Industry Task Group, which was published in December 2006.
RATIO OF VEHICLES/DRIVERS RECEIVING PROHIBITIONS AT VOSA
CHECKS
| | TARGETED CHECKS
| RANDOM CHECKS |
| Type of offence | GB
| Non-GB | GB |
Non-GB |
| Drivers Hours | 6.7% | 20.8%
| 3.4% | 14% |
| Roadworthiness (all) | 23% |
31.5% | | |
NB: Targeted checks are made using intelligence-based
information. This data is more comprehensive for UK operator as
it includes an operators vehicle test history as well as VOSA
encounters at the roadside. The data for non UK vehicles is based
only on the operators roadside encounter history with VOSA.
Question 6 What further policies, not already widely used,
might be considered for adoption and what evidence is there for
their success?
9. EU Drivers' hours rules require that drivers stop
for regular rest breaks and not drive for more than 4.5 hours
at any one stretch on the ground of road safety. In recent years
a number of dedicated truck parking areas and laybys used regularly
by trucks have closed. Reduced availability of driver facilities,
combined with congestion creating less predictable journey times
on the motorway and trunk road network and reductions in flexibility
on the length of breaks resulting from an overhaul of EU drivers'
hours rules from 11 April 2007 means operators (especially in
London and the South East of England) have difficulty in adhering
to the rules.
10. In October 2007 FTA gathered its members' views on
how the recent closures of truckstops in the UK (such as the Alconbury
truckstop on the A14 near Cambridge and Truckworld in Essex) have
impacted on their operations. 1 in 7 operators have experienced
difficulty with adhering to legally required drivers' hours rules
on breaks when drivers have nowhere to stop and take the required
breaks.
11. FTA believes that there should be a coherent national
strategy for driver facilities and that the responsible highways
authority (whether that is the Highways Agency or a local authority)
provides regularly spaced facilities for hgv drivers on major
freight routes. These include the motorway network, key interurban
corridors such as the A34 and A66 and port access routes such
as the A14 and A12.
Question 7 What should be the priorities for government
in considering further targets for casualty reduction beyond 2010?
12. Future targets for road casualty reduction should
continue to be generic in their application to road users. FTA
believes that professional drivers should not be singled out as
a target group in order to deliver an "easy win".
13. The road freight sector has made significant improvements
in its accident record. Government should build on these initiatives
through:
Enforcement Authorities should focus their enforce activities
against those operators with the poorest safety record. Companies
that have an established culture of safety and compliance should
benefit from lighter touch enforcement.
Early adopters of safety best practice should be encouraged
and supported, where appropriate, through grants or vehicle. Examples
of vehicle safety features which should be encouraged includes:
— electronic vehicle stability control;
— improved vehicle lighting or fitment of reflective
tape for enhanced visibility at night; and
— front and rear underrun and sideguards that go
beyond legal requirements.
Encouraging hgvs to use motorways
Motorways remain much safer than rural trunk roads (their
"all severity" rate of 8 accidents per 100 million vehicle
kilometres compares to 23 accidents per 100 million vehicle kilometres
for rural trunk roads). Motorways should be the route of choice
for operators. To ensure this is the case they must deliver journey
time reliability. The most effective measure to relieve congestion
on heavily trafficked motorway routes is through adding additional
lanes. Whilst the Highway Agency's use of technology and effective
incident management to get more capacity out of the existing network
by improving traffic flow is welcome, this cannot be a substitute
for widening. Importantly, as Active Traffic Management, particularly
hard should running, is rolled out to other parts of the network
it must meet the rigorous safety standards applied to pilot schemes.
Education aimed at raising safety consciousness and
initiatives to modify behaviour should be targeted at vulnerable
groups and situations where the risk of accidents is high should
be the main targets. Issues of particular relevance to hgvs include:
— How to behave around hgvs. In particular:
— Positioning at red traffic lights.
— Anticipating HGV maneoveres at left hand turns.
— Being seen at night/in times where visibility
is poor.
— Inclusion of awareness of trucks in
the Highway Code and how motorists should manoeuvre and position
themselves on the road with trucks in mind (for example awareness
of hgv cut-ins at roundabouts and rear view limitations for HGVs.
— Additional information to be included
in the driving test on motorway driving. This should include:
— Use of the middle lane of motorways.
— Safe practice for overtaking lorries—don't
sit alongside lorries travelling at the same speed. Either
stay behind in the mirror's view or get in front.
— Ongoing professional development for drivers:
— The EU's Driver CPC qualification is
a ongoing training programme requiring professional drivers to
undertake 35 hours of training over five years. A key element
to the Driver CPC syllabus is road safety.
February 2008
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