We need you to help shape the future of road safety in Surrey.
Making a Vision for Zero Road Deaths in Surrey a Reality
Surrey County Council is running a consultation on its “Vision Zero” strategy until 24th March 2024, which aims to reduce deaths and serious injuries on Surrey’s roads by 2035. It contains measures to make it easier for communities to reduce speed limits on residential roads and in village centres. There is a lot that is positive in it, which we should be supporting. It has also attracted negative comments from people opposed to reducing speed limits on principle.
What is proposed and why is it a good idea?
This consultation is seeking public support or comment on plans that would make it easier to make streets safer for children to get to school, which should reduce congestion for those who need to drive. Making it easier to make such improvements will mean that they can be brought in more easily, which will reduce cost and mean that road safely in more locations (especially around schools and public centres like railway station) can be improved.
Some thoughts on responding
Firstly, it is worth being clear on what this is not. This is not a proposal to make all streets safe (as you might assume) or a proposal to reduce road speeds from 30mph to 20mph on all urban roads (see below). This would clearly have a greater impact on road safety but is not proposed. The compromise position of this consultation is to make it easier for speed reduction and other road safety measures to be brought forward, but for these still to be place-based – brought forward in individual areas, one by one.
All the information on the Surrey CC website can be found here https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/road-safety/strategy-2024-to-2035
To skip directly to the consultation, click here. https://visionzerosurrey.commonplace.is
Here are some key points to guide a response (from a local supporter’s response which was shared with us). For a longer response please see here
The Surrey RoadSafe Partnership should be praised for committing to a new Vision Zero Road Safety Strategy for Surrey. If delivered, it would bring huge benefits to residents and others who use Surrey’s roads, including the following:
- Halving the number of people killed or seriously injured each year on Surrey’s roads by 2035 (from c.750 to c.375); eliminating them by 2050.
- Enabling more people to choose “active” and sustainable modes of transport for short journeys by reducing the fear of road danger.
- Enabling more children to walk, wheel or cycle to school, improving their health and well-being while also reducing congestion on our roads.
- Decreasing noise and air pollution.
- Improving people’s health and well-being.
- Tackling climate change.
- Supporting local businesses.
- Making our towns and villages more enjoyable places to live.
But, would the actions set out in the current draft of the strategy be capable of delivering these goals? Some points to consider:
Safe Speeds
1. 20 mph Speed Limits – In 2022, 81% of pedestrian casualties in Surrey took place on 30 mph speed limit roads with nearly all involving a collision with a motor vehicle. Similarly, 69% of cycling casualties took place on 30 mph speed limit roads, with 79% of these resulting from collisions with a motor vehicle. Reducing the speed limits on these roads (e.g. routes to schools, town/village centres and residential areas) is key to the Vision Zero strategy. However, requiring the divisional councillor(s) to support each 20 mph scheme, with a consultation to follow, would add bureaucracy and cost, which would result in a much slower rollout than the “default” approach that the Council was considering last year. Would the proposed approach be enough to enable the strategy to achieve its goals for reducing the c.750 people who are killed or seriously injured on Surrey’s roads each year?
Safe Road Users
- Third Party Reporting – Surrey Police’s online service for reporting dangerous drivers captured on dash cam / video camera is included as a “strategy highlight.” However, no commitment has been made to invest in this service, which lets off c.90% of offenders with a warning. A stronger deterrent to driving dangerously in Surrey would be achieved by investing in this service, and then sharing examples of successful enforcement on social media, so that people who drive dangerously realise that Surrey Police can take enforcement action, even if it’s a member of the public rather than an officer who witnesses the incident. Should Surrey Police commit to improving its third party reporting service to support the Vision Zero strategy?
- Parking Enforcement – No mention is made in the strategy of improving parking enforcement, even though this would make our roads safer and enable more “active” travel. Should the Council and Surrey Police commit to working more closely together, using their limited resources more efficiently and prioritising the most dangerous offences? (e.g. Trialling “Operation Park Safe,” which other police forces successfully employ.)
- Public Engagement – Could the Surrey RoadSafe Partnership design a more effective communications plan, which places less focus on asking people to behave when using Surrey’s roads, and more emphasis on them, as road safety experts, engaging with the media and members of the public to counter inaccurate public perceptions that would undermine the Vision Zero strategy?
Safe Roads & Streets
- Prioritising Pedestrians – Should the Council be delivering more roads infrastructure that prioritises people choosing the most sustainable mode of transport (which Council policies aim to promote), rather than motorists and “traffic flow”? (For example, consider pedestrian crossings, which are often not built on desire lines and can have long wait times for pedestrians, even when there are no motor vehicles nearby.)
- Cycling Infrastructure – There is limited safe cycling infrastructure in Surrey and existing plans will not see this change significantly any time soon. Is it likely that the Vision Zero strategy would achieve its goals to reduce road traffic casualties and get more people to walk, wheel and cycle without this?
Accountability, Evidence-led & Funding
- A key target pushed back by 5 years – Last year, the Council was considering setting a target of 2030 for halving the number of people killed or seriously injured on Surrey’s roads. What is the evidence and data to support pushing this target out to 2035?
- Governance – The strategy refers to “senior decision makers” who make up the Partnership Governance Board, but does not set out who these people are. Should it do this, to give the public confidence that the people with the powers needed to deliver the strategy would be overseeing it?
- Accountability – Terms of political office are much less than the 11 years between now and 2035, the strategy’s target for halving fatal and serious casualties on Surrey’s roads. Does the strategy also need short-term targets (e.g. annual targets) to ensure those in charge are more accountable?
10. Evidence-led & Budgets – The strategy is not clear about how much each of its activities is expected to contribute towards the goals of Vision Zero, nor does it confirm that sufficient budgets would be allocated to fund them. Should the strategy be clear on these points?
11. Monitoring – Should the Surrey RoadSafe Partnership commit to publishing its summary data reports/factsheets on the strategy’s progress on its website on a regular and frequent basis to help improve transparency and increase public confidence in the deliverability of the strategy?
12. Leading by example – Should partner organisations lead by example, committing that employees, officers and contractors would display behaviours consistent with the Vision Zero strategy while driving on Surrey’s roads? To help achieve this, perhaps council and contractor vehicles could be fitted with mandatory dash cams, which are regularly and frequently reviewed by specialist council or police officers?
How to respond
To respond to the consultation go to https://visionzerosurrey.commonplace.is/ by March 24th 2024. Click on the road safety tab (first one). This will then take you through asking for your comments on all 7 sections of the document (each one has a tab – it tells you when you are about to go on to the next tab).
The political bit – How did this come about?
In 2022 Jonathan Essex (Green County Councillor) supported a motion proposed by Cllr Will Forster (LibDem County Council) calling for Surrey County Council to adopt a vision for zero road deaths across Surrey. The council has investigated how best to do this. It proposed a set of policies, including to half road deaths by 2030 in a paper shared publicly in June 2023. This included proposals to drop urban road speeds to 20mph across Surrey as the most cost-effective way to reduce serious and fatal road traffic accidents. However, this paper was not accepted by the ruling Conservatives so a new paper was produced in late 2023 with a weaker target – to halve road deaths by 2035 instead. This proposed that it should be easier to bring forward 20mph speed limits and other road safety measures in urban areas, but not a ‘blanket reduction’ as originally proposed. This current consultation is to seek public views on this new plan.
