Issue - meetings

The Board considered a report which set out full details of the numbers of road traffic collision and casualty numbers in the year 2016, and recommended a continuance of road traffic collision reduction work.

It was noted that the Department of Transport had advised that comparisons with previous years’ figures should be interpreted with caution, given that there had been changes in the systems for severity reporting by police forces. Whilst this year’s figures for Halton were a cause for concern, it was emphasised that this was based on one year’s figures only and that casualty figures could be very volatile from one year to the next.

However, trends would now need to be carefully monitored over coming years in order to try and determine whether there was any correlation between casualties and the reduction monitored over coming years in order to try and determine whether there was any correlation between casualties and the reduction in resources that could be put into road safety. The Mersey Gateway works must also be seen as a contributory factor over the last few years, as the available highway network decreased in size and consequently traffic migrated onto more minor roads.

A summary for 2016 was set out in the report. It was noted that whilst long term trends remained downward last year saw significant increases in the numbers of people being slightly injured (SLI) and of those killed/seriously injured (KSI) compared to the figures for the previous year. Within the KSI total, both the number of adults and of children increased but the latter figure was known to be volatile in Halton due to the low numbers and fluctuated from year to year.

RESOLVED: That

1.    the overall progress made on casualty reduction in Halton over the past decade be noted;

2.    concerns with regard to the achievement of further casualty prevention, as a result of resource reductions, be noted; and

3.    the continuing programme of road traffic collision reduction schemes and road safety education, training and publicity be endorsed.