On Friday 25 March, we hosted a free webinar which included a Q&A with the Leeds Safer Roads Partnership and an opportunity to learn more about the strategy. 

A recording of the webinar is available to watch here:

The webinar panel consisted of:

• Lynsey McGarvey - Principal Transport Planner - Leeds City Council
• Gillian MacLeod - Chair of Leeds Safer Roads Partnership - Leeds City Council
• Councillor Helen Hayden - Leeds City Council Executive Member for Infrastructure and Climate
• Gary Bartlett - Chief Officer Highways & Transportation
• Inspector Nick Berry - West Yorkshire Police
• Paul Jeffrey - Head of Department Prosecutions and Casualty Prevention Unit - West Yorkshire Police
• Daniel Burn - Health Improvement Principal - Leeds City Council
• Nick Hunt - Traffic Engineering Manager - Leeds City Council
• Andrew Lee - West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
• Ian Greenwood - Road Safety Campaigner

Vision Zero webinar: Q&A and chat topics

Fatal 4 / Fatal 5

Q) Would you consider changing the ‘Fatal Four’ to the ‘Fatal Five’ to include careless and inconsiderate driving?

A) West Yorkshire Police does deals with many other motoring offences. In Leeds, as part of Operation SPARC, for example, it has dealt with more than 3,200 motorists since July 2020 for a variety of offences, not just the Fatal Four, but also around due care and attention, no insurance, defective parts etc. Operation SNAP is also key to this. We are aware that other police services (inc. A&S, Cheshire, Surrey) do already refer to the ‘Fatal Five’, and we will consider this suggestion.

Reporting issues

Q) As a cyclist, I feel most vulnerable when having to avoid potholes and illegally parked cars. Are these sorts of issues being considered as part of Vision Zero?

A) Page 76 of the strategy discusses this. We would like to make it easier to report these kinds of issues, possibly app-based to make it easier. Currently, you can report issues using this link: https://www.leeds.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-travel/report-an-issue-with-a-road-or-pavement

Q) Maintenance of road markings is one of the tools that encourages better driving behaviour. I see that many are barely visible in our area. We have asked on a number of occasions to get these markings back up to standard, but we have yet to see any action. How can we get this done asap?

A) Please report issues using this link. You can also contact your local councillor.
https://www.leeds.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-travel/report-an-issue-with-a-road-or-pavement

Parking

Q) People often seem to think that parking on pavements is responsible by giving more space to cars. What will you do to stop pavement parking, parking outside schools, parking in cycle lanes?

A) From June 2016, all parking contraventions are dealt with by the Local Council Authority Civil Enforcement Officers. The Police retain responsibility to deal with nuisance or obstruction offences whereby a vehicle is causing an obstruction and these can be reported on line via the link Report nuisance / obstructive parking | West Yorkshire Police

Close pass

Q) The Safe Speeds pillar seems focused on speed cameras and 20mph limits. Are there other schemes still in practice, eg. the Close Pass scheme trialled by the police a few years ago?

A) Page 54 of the strategy sets out the Close Pass operations for both horses and cyclists.

Q) With a 600% increase in near miss/close pass incidents reported to the British Horse Society from 2020 to 2021 in West Yorkshire, what proposals does the Vision Zero Team have to make it safer for horse riders and carriage drivers using the road in your area, especially since the recent Highway Code changes?

A) Page 55 and actions BH6 and BH11 address these areas. Close pass / Operation SNAP are integral to this.

The Highway Code changes

Q) The Highway Code changed in January (hierarchy of road users being a key point) but walking around Leeds you wouldn’t think it had. How is the council raising awareness of this change and how it works in tandem with Vision Zero? And how can local organising groups help out?

A) We have promoted the changes through social media in line with the resources shared by the Department for Transport, which is running a longer-term campaign focusing first on awareness-raising and then on behaviour change, which we will amplify in Leeds. In terms of road user hierarchy, Transport Planning colleagues are looking at lengths of road across the city and how it links to future work.

Why not West Yorkshire wide?

Q) Why is this Vision Zero project only for Leeds? Why are you not working at West Yorkshire level?

A) Leeds is leading the way with Vision Zero. The West Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership is already discussing the preparation of a regional strategy. Deputy Mayor Alison Lowe is chair of the WY Vision Zero board, which was set up in December 2021

Vehicle size

Q) In the 'safe vehicles' part of the strategy, I couldn't find anything about SUVs.  It is well established that SUVs are around twice as likely to cause death or serious injury in a collision, compared to smaller cars. More recent research also shows that they are more likely to cause crashes in the first place, as their drives have reduced visibility due to the shape of the vehicle.   Surely Vision Zero needs to incorporate this significant driver of deaths and injuries and reduce the use and sale of SUVs either through legislation, financial incentives, education or other means. Not to mention the environmental impacts and higher emissions of SUVs which are incompatible with the council's carbon reduction goals.

A) Page 81 of the strategy does touch on how vehicle design/size has an impact on road safety due to issues such as reduced visibility, though it doesn’t specifically mention SUVs. The collision data we receive from Department for Transport does not however include this level of detail at present. We're keen to gather new data sources that can help us reduce KSI. As suggested, we could begin by looking at data relating to collisions and engine size which could be used as a proxy to some extent.

20mph Speed Limits

Q) What is the target for ‘20 roll-out’ everywhere?

A) We have an approved approach to introduce 20s on all residential roads and have been rolling this programme out over recent years. We are at the present time at the final stages of the final phase of this 20mph programme, which should be completed during the summer. Building on from this approach there are other roads within Leeds where we may want to implement lower speed limits. We will continue to work with the police and following the Department of Transport's guidance to move towards these preventative lower speed limits, rather than the current reactive approach, where appropriate.

Q) Why can we not simply implement 20 mph speed limit on all high streets and residential roads now - I have been asking this question for over 10 years without a clear answer?  

A) This is due to the scale of the work and the need to follow national statutory processes in terms of consultations.  Some communities have not wanted 20s and/or have questioned the extent of them, and so there have been ongoing discussions.

Q) We know of a couple of streets that have somehow missed the 20mph change; who is best to contact about this and a lack of repeaters on a couple of others, please?

A) If there are any locations where 20mph repeater signs are missing, then please report these to the traffic engineering team (nick.hunt@leeds.gov.uk)  who will investigate and action any works as required. Repeater signs are not permitted in some cases.

Q) In our village, most residential areas are 20mph. Our issue is enforcement as a larger percentage of drivers do not stick to that limit. Can we gather data as a parish council on speeding to present to West Yorkshire Police to help facilitate extra measures to ensure people stick to the limits?

A) in many respects your comments go to the heart of the issue here. Why are locals/ regular users speeding in their areas? How can we change this when enforcement resources are finite? How do we make speeding as anti-social as drink driving? As part of any scheme that Leeds City Council promotes, we do undertake post-implementation analysis. Unfortunately, this analysis in some locations has been delayed due to the pandemic and the impact the pandemic had on vehicle movements and speeds. Now that driving patterns are returning to similar pre-Covid figures, we will be undertaking any outstanding post implementation analysis, which will help support further engineering intervention or police enforcement action.

The police will continue to work with the local authority in considering all mitigating options to achieve speed compliance where data indicates an issue. This may include but is not necessarily enforcement activity.  

Q) Speed limit enforcement is a huge issue. Fixed penalties should make enforcement self-financing. Repeat offenders, confiscate their cars. If the cameras are in place, why is this not happening enough to make a difference?

A) West Yorkshire Police enforce speed limits using static and mobile enforcement activity as well as through local officer enforcement deployment/ activity. The use of cameras, and price recovery is the subject of strict rules. Fixed penalties and court fines are recovered in their entirety by HM treasury. The West Yorkshire Casualty Prevention Partnership (who oversees the implementation of speed cameras within the district) is able to recover some operating costs from lower-level offending where driver offenders accept a driver retraining course option as an out of court disposal. There is no power for the police to routinely confiscate the vehicles of motorists who trigger cameras.

The Department for Transport (DfT) are at the present time reviewing their historical guidance note for the use and deployment of speed cameras use and the West Yorkshire Casualty Prevention Partnership have made representations that changes need to enable camera deployment in a more preventative manner, rather than the current criteria driver approach. It is hoped the DfT changes will be published soon.

In 2021 WYP processed in excess of 218,000 speed camera offences.

Q) I have heard that there are constraints from the Department for Transport around implementing and enforcing 20mph zones. Is there dialogue or lobbying going on to address these? 

A) The Department for Transport have published guidance for the ‘setting of local speed limits’ to all local authorities so that a national approach is adopted. The Department for Transport (DfT) guidance states that effective speed management is part of creating a safe road environment which is fit for purpose. It involves many components designed to work together to require, encourage and help road users to adopt appropriate and safe speeds below the speed limit. As well as being the legal limit, speed limits are a key source of information to road users, particularly as an indicator of the nature and risks posed by that road both to themselves and to all other road users. Speed limits should, therefore, be evidence-led and self-explaining, and seek to reinforce people's assessment of what is a safe speed to travel and encourage self-compliance. They should be seen by drivers as the maximum speed rather than as a target speed at which to drive irrespective of conditions. It is often not appropriate or safe to drive at the maximum speed limit.

 The underlying principles

• The aim of speed management should be to achieve a safe distribution of speeds consistent with the speed limit that reflects the function of the road and the road environment. This should imply a mean speed appropriate to the prevailing road environment, and all vehicles moving at speeds below or at the posted speed limit, while having regard to the traffic conditions.
• A key factor when setting a speed limit is what the road looks like to the road users. Drivers are likely to expect and respect lower limits, and be influenced when deciding on what is an appropriate speed, where they can see there are potential hazards, for example outside schools, in residential areas or villages and in shopping streets.
• The latest Department for Transport guidance states that speed limits should not be used to attempt to solve the problem of isolated hazards, for example a single road junction or reduced forward visibility such as at a bend, since speed limits are difficult to enforce over such a short length. Other measures, such as warning signs including vehicle activated signs, carriageway markings, junction improvements, superelevation of bends and new or improved street lighting, are likely to be more effective in addressing such hazards.

In regard to the enforcement of 20mph speed limits, West Yorkshire Police stance and the Department for Transport guidance is that 20mph zones should be self-enforcing. To be compliant with this Department for Transport guidance, Leeds City Council has to achieve a post implementation mean speed of 24mph or below. The guidance states “Successful 20mph zones and 20mph speed limits are generally self-enforcing, i.e. the existing conditions of the road together with measures such as traffic calming or signing, publicity and information as part of the scheme, lead to a mean traffic speed complaint with the speed limit. To achieve compliance there should be no expectation on the police to provide additional enforcement beyond their routine activity, unless this has been explicitly agreed.”

Therefore in regard to 20mph speed limit and zones we aim to demonstrate that a mean speed of 24mph or below has been achieved. However, there may be some instances where the post implementation 20mph speed limit surveys that Leeds has delivered a successful 20mph scheme (mean speeds to below the 24mph limit) but there may still some drivers who choose to drive excessively in these area. In these cases, Leeds City Council forward the relevant speed/ volume data to the Police, so that they are then able to consider the deployment of their officers in a more targeted manner (at specific times or days), if they determine from the speed survey data that a problem has been identified/ exists.

Of course, none of the above precludes occasional ad-hoc enforcement visits to any site during the course of an officer's normal tour of duty (using Pro- laser handheld detection devices) but this would be a local operational decision.   

Department for Transport 

Q) Is the Department for Transport on board with Vision Zero?

A) We understand that the Department for Transport are supportive of Vision Zero strategies. We will contact them for a formal response regarding the Leeds Vision Zero strategy. 

Speed Cameras:

Q) I cannot understand the ‘average speed’ ‘cop-out’ - sorry….

A) Average speed cameras tend to stop motorist 'camera surfing' by speeding up after they have past the fixed safety camera, it’s used in Nottinghamshire, for example. Average speed cameras can support greater compliance with speed limits along the length of a route rather than just in the vicinity of a fixed camera

Community involvement:

Q) Can communities gather speed behaviour information for WYP / Highways use? Is it a good idea to let residents use speed cameras?

A) One of our actions is to identify ways to work more closely with the community through neighbourhood policing teams and local councillors to understand where speeding occurs – lending out ‘SID’ machines, for example. Have a look at the actions labelled ‘SP’ at the end of the draft strategy, in particular, and pages 66-71. Any specific concerns on driver behaviours or speeding can be reported online to your local Neighbourhood Policing Team via the West Yorkshire Police website.

Community Speed Watch schemes can be beneficial in certain settings. It is essential that any local initiatives are both designed and delivered in a safe and sustainable way as part of a co-ordinated local strategy.