Whether you’re a fan of the Royal Wedding or not, one thing is for sure – the whole event was hugely successful due to teamwork and detailed planning.
In fact, I’m sure that after every major occasion, those involved assess what went right and wrong and use that information to make improvements next time. This is why events of this scale seem to operate with such perfection. As a business model this is a process of continuous improvement delivered by focused teams with a common goal.
However, when it comes to road safety, I don’t believe that same process is happening.
Firstly, the reduction of traffic police means less are available to attend crash scenes and gather together the data that identifies why accidents are occurring. Secondly, I don’t believe that all sectors of the road safety community have a common goal and are prepared to work as a team.
You may find that statement shocking. But in terms of road safety we all have a common purpose, but in reality we are all doing our own things for our own reasons. Call me cynical but everyone has their own agendas in life and, unlike the team of organisers, volunteers, The Police and everyone else involved in the Royal Wedding its never been possible in our sector to align the activities and goals of all parties to achieve what would be possible if we all worked together.
So, while people continue to die on our roads, those individuals who commit their time to stop it happening are doing so with less data to help guide their actions and recommendations, and in many cases are pulling in different directions. A great example recently was when we sent our new Road Safety for Kids system to the Government. This is a free system which can be used by any child in the UK to help educate them about road safety in order to save lives and we were told in no uncertain terms that the Government wasn’t interested in it. Perhaps because it wasn’t high profile enough for them, and wouldn’t be a vote winner, we weren’t meeting their particular goals. So while many schools and road safety bodies have welcomed it with open arms, the Government don’t want to know. Such a shame that they too are pulling in a different direction to us.
But for those of you in the road safety profession, you’ll know that you have to keep reminding yourself why you do these things and next week I will be attending the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety for the launch of the Decade of Action in Westminster. Let’s hope all involved in road safety work together at that meeting and put aside their own notions that they are the only organisation that has good ideas. While I know I’m asking a lot, maybe even the politicians could start really listening to the experts in road safety rather than just doing what they think will win votes.
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