Νέα της TISPOL

Welcome to your latest TISPOL Bulletin!

Book your place at this year's
TISPOL Road Safety Conference

"Expanding our Horizons"

Presentations from roads policing chiefs representing:
England and Wales (Anthony Bangham), Norway (Runar Karlsen), Belgium (Koen Ricour)

Other topics on the Conference agenda:
Operation ENABLE (Ireland)
Operation SNAP (Wales)
Operation Trivium (Europe-wide)
Next steps for #ProjectEDWARD
Sustainable safety strategies (Netherlands)
Effective partnership working (Scotland)
Alternatives to prosecution (England and Wales)

...plus many more presentations and case studies

Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 October
The Radisson Blu Hotel, Manchester Airport

Book your delegate or exhibitor place now

A DAY WITHOUT FATALITIES ON EUROPE’S ROADS?

That’s the aim of #ProjectEDWARD. Launched in 2016, we are building support right across Europe. We want you to take part so that we can raise awareness of road safety - not just on EDWARD day itself, but every day, everywhere... Our long-term aim is to spearhead significant and sustained reduction in death and serious injury on roads across the world.

2018’s day of action is Wednesday 19 September.

On Monday 11 June we will mark the start of the
100-day countdown to #ProjectEDWARD.

This year we are very grateful for the generous support provided by Westcotec and Road Safety Support, with web sponsorship from Sussex and Surrey Safer Roads Partnership/DriveSmart, Ireland's Roads Safety Authority, Croatia's Center for Vehicles, Driving for Better Business, Insure the Box, Vitronic, GEM Motoring Assist and IAM RoadSmart.

• In forthcoming Bulletins we will set out ways of becoming involved, and how you can share your own efforts to gain maximum exposure.
• We are working on an introductory video that will be available in around 25 different languages.
• We will shortly give you access to a resources area where you can access and download artwork and ideas for events and messages connected with #ProjectEDWARD.
• We will share our publication schedule of social media messages starting in early September.
• We will tell you all about what we will be doing on 19 September and how you can join in.

There are still opportunities to get involved as a commercial sponsor, and if you would like to discuss the potential benefits of a formal  arrangement, then please email us for more details. 

Switzerland: campaign to get more help for emergency services from road users

Police in Switzerland are encouraging drivers to understand how they can best assist an emergency vehicle responding on blue lights.  Formation of a temporary  'Rettungsgasse' (emergency corridor) greatly helps emergency vehicles on their way to incidents.

On a dual carriageway, vehicles in the left lane need to drive as far to the left as possible, and the vehicles in the right lane as far to the right as needed to open up an emergency route down the middle of the carriageway.

On a motorway, vehicles in the far left lane keep as far to the left as possible, the other lanes keep to the right to open up an emergency passage between the far left outermost lane and the next lane.

Thanks to André Roth and the Basel City Police for sending this information. 

Ireland: national 'Slow Down' Day

During a 24-hour period at the end of May, police in Ireland checked the speed of 132,188 vehicles. Of these, 211 vehicles were detected travelling in excess of the applicable speed limit.

Examples included:

• 132km/h in a 100km/h Zone on the N20 Ballymartin Blarney Cork116km/h in a 80km/h Zone on the R513 Ballynamona Hospital Limerick
• 79km/h in a 50km/h Zone on the R702 Ballymurphy Borris Carlow
• 71km/h in a 50km/h Zone on the R755 Ashtown Or Ballinafunshoge Roundwood Wicklow

The aim of "Slow Down day” is to remind drivers of the dangers of speeding, increase compliance with speed limits and act as a deterrent to driving at excessive or inappropriate speed.

Luxembourg: grossly overweight van seized on its way to Algeria

How much more weight could this driver add to his van?? On May 21, the highway patrol in Luxembourg was contacted because of this broken down van. Because of cracked/busted twin tyres, the vehicle was immobilised in the emergency lane from the highway A1 between Germany and France. The driver, who came from Germany, was on his way to Marseille to take the ferry to Algeria.

It was immediately apparent that the van was heavily overloaded. Because of the overload, the chassis was torn in the middle and the front left suspension was broken. The van was then towed and weighed. An overload of almost 4 tons was detected, which in this case corresponds to a percentage of more than 100%. Added to this was that the cargo was insufficiently secured.

Sweden: value of safer roads increases

The theoretical value of safe roads has increased, says the Swedish Transport Administration, which regulates traffic in the country.

The ‘cost' of a death caused by a road accident is now considered to be 40.5 million kronor (3.9 million euros), a substantial increase against a previous calculation of 24 million kronor (2.3 million euros), according to the Swedish Transport Administration, Trafikverket. 

The authority says the measure is used to assess the benefits of new safety initiatives against their costs.

As such, the figure does not relate to the actual cost of individual deaths caused by accidents, but reflects how much Swedes are prepared to pay to reduce the risk of road traffic accidents.

The calculation is based on a number of studies carried out at Örebro University.

More details >>

UK: learner drivers now allowed on motorways

 Learner drivers can now take motorway driving lessons, as part of a law change intended to improve road safety. Any motorway lessons learner drivers take will be voluntary and must be with an approved driving instructor in a car with dual-controls displaying L plates.

However, motorway driving is not being added to the driving test as part of this change, and the change in law does not apply to learner motorcyclists.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) says driving instructors will only take learner drivers on the motorway when they have ‘the right skills and experience to drive in a high-speed environment’.

Jesse Norman, road safety minister, said: “Road collisions remain the second biggest killer of young people.

“Allowing learner drivers to have motorway lessons with a qualified road safety expert will help more young drivers to gain the skills and experience they need to drive safely on motorways.”

Netherlands: city offers drivers incentive to stick to speed limits

A city in the Netherlands is offering motorists financial incentives to drive within the speed limit. Earlier this month, a ‘speed-meter money box’ was installed in Helmond, North Brabant, on a stretch of road which has a problem with speeding drivers.

However, instead of fining those exceeding the 30km/h limit, the speed sensor rewards those who keep to the limit with cash for local projects within the community.

Each vehicle that observes the speed limit adds €0.10 (9p) to the monetary figure displayed, to a maximum of half a Euro per vehicle each day.

Catelijne Thomassen, spokeswoman for North Brabant province, told Guardian Cities the speedometer achieved a fundraising target of €500 to upgrade a local playing field well before the end of the three-week trial.