Agenda item

The Road Safety & Speeding in Communities Presentation was presented by the representative from the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership.

The Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership consisted of the following agencies:

-       Lincolnshire Police

-       Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC)

-       East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS)

-       Lincolnshire County Council (LCC)

-       Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue Service

-       National Highways.

The presentation encapsulated the following information:

-       433 people were killed or seriously injured (KSI) in Lincolnshire in 2024. Casualties were more likely to be male and the highest risk motorists were young drivers, mature drivers or two-wheeled motor drivers.

-       The Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership facilitated a scheme named ‘Operation Snap’ where members of the public could send digital footage of dangerous or illegal instances on public roads. It was confirmed that 2105 submissions were received during 2024. 909 offences were processed and on 601 occasions drivers were sent warning letters with still images of the footage.

-       The presentation outlined the instances in which mobile speed cameras could be installed.

-       The Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership also ran a scheme named the Community Speed Watch. This consisted of 288 current members and 1382 trained volunteers.

-       The presentation concluded by outlining the aim of the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership to be to ‘create a new, ambitious, collaborative Road Safety Strategy for Lincolnshire that commits everyone in the road safety system to preventing death and serious injury on the roads beyond 2025.’

During discussions, Members commented on the following:

-       How to secure electronic vehicle-activated speed alert signs in high risk areas of SKDC. The representative from the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership clarified that the funding model for this needed to be reviewed as it had previously fallen to Parish Councils to fund. The representative agreed to speak to the relevant Member outside of the meeting.

-       Whether support could be offered to LCC with imposing urban 20mph zones and enforcing zig-zag line no-stop zones outside schools. The representative confirmed that they were working with LCC to try and enforce some zig-zag line zones and that the imposition of 20mph zones needed to be targeted rather than a blanket policy. However, the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership supported LCC in pursuing this.

-       Whether preventative measures could be undertaken at locations where there had been accidents, but nobody had been killed or seriously injured. The representative confirmed that the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership’s limited resources had to be focused on areas at the highest level of danger.

-       A Member informed the Committee that they were in the process of establishing a Road Safety Partnership for South Kesteven. This was to be a non-political body that was open to all members and officers and had been backed by the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership. The Member clarified that six individuals had signed up so far and a minimum of three people were needed per-team, per-session. An email was to be sent to all members, and the request was made that the Town Council was included. 

-       The issue was identified of driver’s frustration when driving behind slow-moving vehicles. This was noted to be a matter of driver education.

-       It was noted that during the 2024 Forbidden Forest event, 7920 vehicles were recorded as travelling through Denton, 56 of which were exceeding the speed limit.

-       It was queried whether the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership was consulted on planning applications and whether their advice was reviewed retrospectively when the physical impact of new developments was known. The representative confirmed that the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership were not always consulted in the planning process. It was only in cases where the Highways Agency had specifically requested the involvement of the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership.

Councillor Graham Jeal entered the Chamber.