It’s often said that the UK has some of the safest roads in the world, and indeed that is true with our road deaths per million regularly in and around the lowest five countries. This can be put down to a variety of reasons, from well-designed roads and comparatively good driver training, to strong enforcement and excellent trauma care for those who are injured in collisions.

However latest official figures show that there were an estimated 1,558 reported road deaths in the UK in 2021, with 5.2 fatalities per billion vehicle miles.

Just stop and think about that for a moment. More than one and a half thousand people lost their lives on the UK’s roads in 2021. That is more than four people a day, 30 people every week, who left with a “see you later” one day and never came home. 1,558 people is 1,558 people too many.

As the United Nations marks Global Road Safety Week this week (15-21 May), I have reflected on how there is so much more we could be doing to reduce road fatalities.

As someone who has worked in enforcement for 20 years, you won’t be surprised that I say technology has a greater role to play in making our roads safer, and it frustrates me it is not embraced as much as it could be.

Enforcement cameras, along with other engineering solutions have undoubtably made a difference where they have been installed, in many cases delivering a significant reduction to the number of casualty collisions that occur. However, many drivers are ‘smart’ and know where the cameras are, and therefore where they feel they can ‘get away’ with driving faster than the limit. If network wide compliance and safety is the objective, then I suggest an increase in the number of these cameras across the network to make driving within the limit a thing of habit, rather than something to remember to do in certain places, or when someone is watching. The figures speak for themselves.

The company I work for here in the UK has terrific new technology to deal with distracted driving and not wearing a seatbelt. The Acusensus ‘Heads Up’ cameras use AI technology to monitor driver behaviours, as they drive past some clever roadside technology, which analyses images taken through the windscreen to flag if they are not wearing a belt, or if they’re holding a mobile phone.

“Enforcement cameras, along with other engineering solutions have undoubtably made a difference where they have been installed, in many cases delivering a significant reduction to the number of casualty collisions that occur.”

They’re proven to work, too. In Australia, the first state-wide scheme rolled out in New South Wales in 2019 has had a significant impact on driver behaviours as people discovered that the technology existed and they faced the real prospect of being caught if they broke the rules. The number of mobile phone detections has dropped by a factor of six, from 1 in 82 drivers in 2019 to 1 in 478 drivers in 2021, with this reduction trend further continuing year on year to 1 in 588 in 2022/23

It’s often said that the UK has some of the safest roads in the world, and indeed that is true with our road deaths per million regularly in and around the lowest five countries. This can be put down to a variety of reasons, from well-designed roads and comparatively good driver training, to strong enforcement and excellent trauma care for those who are injured in collisions.

However latest official figures show that there were an estimated 1,558 reported road deaths in the UK in 2021, with 5.2 fatalities per billion vehicle miles.

Just stop and think about that for a moment. More than one and a half thousand people lost their lives on the UK’s roads in 2021. That is more than four people a day, 30 people every week, who left with a “see you later” one day and never came home. 1,558 people is 1,558 people too many.

As the United Nations marks Global Road Safety Week this week (15-21 May), I have reflected on how there is so much more we could be doing to reduce road fatalities.

As someone who has worked in enforcement for 20 years, you won’t be surprised that I say technology has a greater role to play in making our roads safer, and it frustrates me it is not embraced as much as it could be.

Enforcement cameras, along with other engineering solutions have undoubtably made a difference where they have been installed, in many cases delivering a significant reduction to the number of casualty collisions that occur. However, many drivers are ‘smart’ and know where the cameras are, and therefore where they feel they can ‘get away’ with driving faster than the limit. If network wide compliance and safety is the objective, then I suggest an increase in the number of these cameras across the network to make driving within the limit a thing of habit, rather than something to remember to do in certain places, or when someone is watching. The figures speak for themselves.

The company I work for here in the UK has terrific new technology to deal with distracted driving and not wearing a seatbelt. The Acusensus ‘Heads Up’ cameras use AI technology to monitor driver behaviours, as they drive past some clever roadside technology, which analyses images taken through the windscreen to flag if they are not wearing a belt, or if they’re holding a mobile phone.

They’re proven to work, too. In Australia, the first state-wide scheme rolled out in New South Wales in 2019 has had a significant impact on driver behaviours as people discovered that the technology existed and they faced the real prospect of being caught if they broke the rules. The number of mobile phone detections has dropped by a factor of six, from 1 in 82 drivers in 2019 to 1 in 478 drivers in 2021, with this reduction trend further continuing year on year to 1 in 588 in 2022/23

Distracted driving is a major cause of danger and injury on our roads.  If you don’t believe it, just watch this excellent, albeit harrowing, BBC documentary. to see the effect not only on the victims and their families but anyone involved in a collision caused by someone using their phone at the wheel. This was further reinforced for me only this week, when another BBC film was aired, which I took part in, where we showed our technology next to the M1 in Toddington.I’m sure you will agree that the testimony by the mother of an 11 year old girl who was killed by a distracted driver, is particularly affecting.

“More than one and a half thousand people lost their lives on the UK’s roads in 2021. That is more than four people a day, 30 people every week, who left with a “see you later” one day and never came home. 1,558 people is 1,558 people too many.”

The Government has wisely beefed up laws over the use of mobile phones at the wheel, with harsher fines and six points on your licence. But laws are only effective if they are actually enforced. One problem is that the way enforcement schemes are funded means that the costs fall on authorities and the police, but revenue goes centrally to the Treasury. While these schemes are never revenue generators (no matter what some newspapers might claim), and we would be delighted if there were no transgressions spotted at all; because that would mean the roads are safer, if there were a way to use fines to fund schemes, the business case in local areas would be much easier to write. Remember that there is not only a human cost in every life lost, but economic costs too in Police and hospital time, road closures, inquests and the wider ripple effect on everyone involved in a needless fatality. If technology can reduce the loss of life, why not use it?

People who don’t wear a seatbelt put themselves at a significantly greater risk of dying in a road collision, with PACTS reporting that three in ten vehicle occupants killed in road collisions found not be wearing a belt. In our tests, we found around four times more people were non-compliant with seat belt laws than mobile phones, and reducing this would be a significant contributor to reducing the road trauma toll.

Since I took on my role at Acusensus last autumn, people have commented to me that those who break seatbelt rules and are seriously injured or killed in a subsequent crash “only have themselves to blame and it doesn’t really bother anyone else”. This may lead to a subconscious view that seatbelt laws should not be such a priority for enforcement. However, again, think of the emotional cost for all those having to deal with fatal and serious road injuries, and those economic costs, not to mention friends, colleagues and family who might have said “why don’t you wear your seatbelt, it could save your life”. When people do stupid, selfish things, but there is technology to dissuade them from doing so, shouldn’t we use it to save them from themselves?

Enforcement is one part, but an important one in making our roads safer. I could go on for pages with other ideas. The use of dashcams to record evidence of dangerous driving means there are eyes all around you when you’re behind the wheel and as awareness of this fact grows, hopefully people will change their habits.  Many drivers say that, after they have been on a Speed Awareness Course, they have changed their driving behaviour, and will typically share their new found experience and understanding with those around them. I personally would like to see this approach taken to distracted driving too, with a dedicated training course as a diversion to an endorsement. 

I would bet that for the cost to society of one life lost on our road we could fund a major education campaign reaching drivers before they are spotted transgressing – why should a driving test at 17 be perhaps the only time a driver receives any training? Insurance is another option – if you automatically invalidated your insurance in the case of an accident where you were proved to be speeding or otherwise breaking driving rules, maybe you’d be more inclined to drive more safely? I would appreciate your thoughts on other ways to make things safer.

As I always say, I challenge the newspaper headlines claiming automated enforcement is somehow a “war on the motorist”. It is not, but it is a battle against bad and dangerous driving, and – when I think of the 30 people each week who we lose – this is a war I am proud to fight.

Geoff Collins is Chair of the ITS UK Enforcement Forum.

Join the Forum at its next meeting here.