Collision investigation
and statistical analysis
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An integral part of road safety engineering, collision investigation is the analysis of Police injury collision records, searching for trends and patterns in order to recommend mitigation measures. This is carried out in both urban and rural environments at individual sites, short or long routes, and areas such as residential estates.
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Comparison of collisions rates with national and local control data can be used to justify further investigation. Following on from this, statistical analysis of collision data can be used to determine whether a rising trend in collisions is due to a real increase in risk or random fluctuation, or whether a specific road user group is over represented in the data.
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Having carried out well over 100 road safety engineering studies for a number of metropolitan and rural highway authorities over the past 20 years, Paul Martin has the skills and experience to investigate high risk sites and recommend mitigation measures.
Road safety audits
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A systematic check of road schemes during each stage
of their design and construction, road safety audits identify aspects of a scheme that may give rise to safety problems and recommends modifications that would
improve the safety of the resultant scheme.
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Road Safety Answers carries out road safety audits to
national or local standards. Our employees hold the Certificate of Competence, enabling each team to carry
out road safety audits of the Strategic (Trunk) Road
network in the UK.
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We can complete an audit within 10 working days of
receipt of the road safety audit brief, if not sooner.
Highway safety assessments
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Unlike a road safety audit, a highway safety assessment
allows safety comparisons to be made between differing options for a scheme. It also allows a safety assessment
of an existing road, whether it be a single site, a network
of roads or a private site such as a supermarket car park
and access roads. The assessment aims to identify areas
or locations of inappropriately high risk, with a view to recommending mitigation measures to reduce the risk
to low levels, or eliminate it altogether.
Road safety policies, plans
and procedures development
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Small local highway authorities, with limited resources, often do not have the skills and expertise to formulate
a road safety plan, or a programmes of safety schemes
in order to reduce the injury collisions occurring on their network. This is a statutory requirement, under the Road Traffic Act 1988, Section 39.
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Road Safety Answers can assist with the annual monitoring of all injury collisions, their analysis, and the consequent formulation of road safety policies, road safety plans and procedures, as is required for road safety audits.
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Road Safety Answers’ founder, Paul Martin, has written road safety audit procedures for a local authority and was part of the team that recently re-wrote the national safety audit standard, HD 19/15.
Road safety advice
With his past experience sitting on the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, his recent involvement with the committee of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation’s Society
of Road Safety Auditors (SoRSA), and recent
experience training future practitioners in the fields
of road safety engineering, highways and traffic design and management, Paul Martin is perfectly placed to provide road safety advice.
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In recent years, Paul has provided road safety advice
and expertise to Strategic and Local Highway Authorities, both in the UK and abroad, to property and retail developers, retail chains, residents associations and
to private individuals. This advice took the form of
formal reports, the assessment of major road safety tenders, site safety (risk) assessments, attendance at public meetings, or secondments into the offices of
the Highways Agency.
Conflict studies
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Developed in the UK and Scandinavia, conflict studies are used as a proxy where collision data is not available. Road Safety Answers can carry out a conflict study to assess
the likely injury collisions resulting from a proposal, such
as a new development, that will increase traffic on existing roads close to the proposal. This is helpful to a planning authority, unsure of the likely network effects of the additional traffic generated by the proposal. Paul Martin has recent experience carrying out conflict studies and teaching this technique to the industry.
Accessibility/Mobility audits
The Equality Act 2010, replacing the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, requires equal treatment in access to employment as well as private and public services. In the case of disability, employers and service providers are under a duty to make reasonable adjustments to their workplaces to overcome barriers experienced by disabled people. For the past 20+ years, highway authorities have interpreted this as needing to assess their networks, mainly in the urban environment,
to improve the ability of disabled users to travel around the roads and footways unhindered. Road Safety Answers has the expertise and experience in identifying the barriers to movement and recommending suitable mitigation measures, in accordance with current guidance and best practice.
Quality audits
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As defined in Manual for Streets, a Quality Audit balances
the outputs from different audits, during the design process, giving decision makers the chance to make a balanced assessment of different considerations before approving
a particular solution. At Road Safety Answers, we work in conjunction with urban design consultants, giving us
the skills and experience to provide the various audits
that comprise a Quality Audit, namely:
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Road safety audits
Cycle audits
Access/mobility audits
Pedestrian audits
Visual quality audits
Place check audits
Community audits