ITEM PAGE

ABERDEEN CITY COUNCIL

Name of Committee: Policy & Strategy

Date of Meeting: 17 April, 2007

Title of Report: Sponsorship – Accident Statistics

Lead Officer : George Cruickshank Head of Service (Shelter & Environment), Neighbourhood Services South

Author of Report: Steven Mitchell, Aberdeen in Bloom Officer (52)3529  [email protected]

Ewen Kay, Principal Engineer (52)2911  [email protected]

Other Involvement : Ruth Milne, Technical Officer

Consultation undertaken with: City Solicitor; City Chamberlain; Head of Planning & Policy for Services to Adults, Head of Service Shelter and Environment Neighbourhood Services (North, Central & South) and Head of Planning & Infrastructure, Grampian Police. All Councillors as this is a City-wide issue.

Summary of Report

This report refers back to the meeting of the Policy & Strategy Committee on 19 April, 2005, when a report on the above topic was considered (see Item 14 on pages 146 & 147 of the Minutes). The report recommended that the Committee “….note the conclusions contained within the report and remit it to officials to submit a similar report to a meeting of the Committee in the Spring of 2007 including an updated statistical analysis of the same 10 included in this report.” The recommendation was approved and the present report is in response to that remit.

In explanation, the former report picked 10 sponsored roundabouts at random, across the City and analysed the number of road accidents at and around those roundabouts, before and after the installation of sponsorship signs. The purpose of this was to determine whether the signs were a factor in the number of accidents, in that they were a potential distraction to drivers. The former report could find no such linkage, however the present report, with two more years of statistical evidence, should provide a more accurate analysis.

Recommendations

It is recommended that the Committee note the findings of the report. ITEM PAGE

Links to the Community Plan and to a Partnership for Aberdeen

This report is compatible with the aim to have “…clear, comprehensive and high standards in relation to Health & Care and Homes & Safety for all citizens…”.

Implementation

Depending on the report’s recommendations, the Committee may either choose to note the report or instruct further work from officers.

Resource Implications

People: This will be dependent on the recommendations within the report.

Finance: Although roundabout sponsorship earns revenue income for the City Council, the particular issue to be discussed in the report (i.e. the road safety implications of the erection of sponsorship signs) has no obvious financial implications.

Systems & Technology: None

Property: None

Other Equipment: None

Other: None

Other Implications Health & Safety: Carrying out this “before” and “after” check on the road safety impact of the introduction of sponsored traffic roundabouts is an appropriate and responsible approach by the City Council.

Risk Management : Although the City Council are under no statutory obligation to carry out this exercise, the “Health & Safety” concerns expressed by some critics of the scheme would justify the staff time spent in producing the report, in the interests of good public relations.

Human Rights/ Equalities/Diversity: None

Sustainability: *

Environmental: Not applicable

2 ITEM PAGE

Social: Not applicable

Economic: The continuation of the roundabout sponsorship scheme has beneficial effects on City Council revenue budgets.

Construction: Not applicable

Signature:

3 ITEM PAGE

Main Considerations:

1. Background

1.1 Following the introduction of Sponsorship signs on roundabouts there has been a great deal of concerns relating to whether the installation of these signs has a detrimental effect on road safety on those roundabouts affected.

1.2 The Policy and Strategy Committee of the 19 April 2005 instructed the Head of Property Management to report back on the updated results of the “before and after” analysis of the effect of the existence of sponsored traffic roundabouts on road accident statistics.

1.3 With no documentary evidence showing that road safety is compromised, a survey has been requested to assess any impacts these signs may have to road safety.

2.1 The first sponsored roundabout was created on 7 August 2002, with additional sites being established in December 2002. By the end of 2003 approximately 30 roundabouts had signage on them. This report will therefore be considering accident statistics for a period of 6 years.

2.2 It is standard practice when carrying out accident analysis to survey accident locations for a period of 3 years before and 3 years after the introduction of measures which may have had an effect on road safety.

2.3 To date 45 roundabouts have received sponsorship status and as such the analysis of all these sites would be extremely time consuming. Due to the time constraints for this report, the resources available and the limited period of time that these signs have been installed a decision has been made to only survey 10 sites, those being the sites which have been up for the longest period of time. It is felt that those roundabouts chosen, cover most types and classifications of within the city but includes 6 on the trunk roads. The roundabouts on the trunk roads take a large percentage of through traffic and as such the information gained should give an overall impression of the effects of these signs.

The 10 roundabouts chosen are detailed in the table below:-

Date Locus of Roundabouts Route Sponsorship Classification signing installed Wellington Road at Hareness Road Primary Distributor 20/12/2002

North West at Market Primary Distributor 14/03/2003

Great Southern Road and Holburn Street District Distributor 20/01/2003

A944 at Kingswells Primary Distributor 20/12/2002

A90 Stonehaven Road at of Dee Trunk Road 20/12/2002

A90 Anderson Drive at Queens Road Trunk Road 20/12/2002

4 ITEM PAGE

A90 North Anderson Drive at Provost Fraser Trunk Road 13/02/2003 Drive

A90 North Anderson Drive at Provost Rust Trunk Road 20/12/2002 Drive

A90 at Whitestripes Trunk Road 20/01/2003

A90 Parkway at Ellon Road Trunk Road 18/12/2002

2.4 Certain difficulties arise when analysing the causation information relating to these accidents. The police systems (STATS 19 Road Accident Statistic Specification) used throughout is used to report accidents and limits the descriptions available for the reporting of accidents. This information can be dependent on the interpretation by the officer involved. For analysis purposes accidents where the following causation factors have been reported will be included in the analysis:

• Failure to give priority at roundabout or without care at roundabout.

• Inattentive or distracted.

• Following too closely.

3. Results

The previous report to the Policy and Strategy Committee was submitted on the 19th April 2004. The causation factors available for use by Grampian Police in their recording system, (STATS 19 Road Accident Statistic Specification) which is used throughout Scotland, have been altered for the collisions recorded since 2005. There are not now causation factors that are directly comparable to those used for the previous report. With that in mind, it has been decided to compare ALL the accidents on the selected roundabouts for a period of 3 years before and 3 years after the installation of the advertising board, regardless of the causation factors. Tables tabulating the results are attached in Appendix A.

There is an overall reduction of accidents over the roundabouts taken together. This may be the result of an overall reduction in accident collisions throughout the City as a whole over this period.

The table shows that the roundabouts on the 30mph routes show a decrease in the number of collisions. The other roundabouts show no definite increase or decrease to the collision rates. These results do not show that the advertising boards are having an adverse effect on the collision statistics. From a collision analysis perspective, these results are again totally inconclusive.

4. Consultation

4.1 The comments from those who responded to the consultation are recorded below.

5 ITEM PAGE

COMMENT Councillor Irene I am pleased to see that there has been no increase in accidents Cormack as a result of the sponsorship panels. I was one of those concerned about this in the beginning. Inspector Leslie "External-to-vehicle" driver distraction is a major area of concern Wiseman, Grampian in respect of road safety. Although the results of your survey Police have shown no adverse effect on collision statistics, as stated in your report, these results are, however, inconclusive. By their very nature, advertising signs are designed to draw attention. The Chief Constable is therefore of the opinion that such signage may prove a distraction to motorists and is unable to support their installation.

6 ITEM Appendix A PAGE Before After

Locus of Roundabouts Speed D/O Sl S F Total D/O SL S F Total Restriction

1 Wellington Road at Hareness Road 8 2 0 0 10 5 1 0 0 6 30 mph 2 North Esplanade West at Market Street 9 0 1 0 10 6 1 0 0 7 30 mph 3 Great Southern Road at Holburn Street 4 2 0 0 6 1 0 0 0 1 30 mph 4 A944 at Kingswells 6 1 0 0 7 8 3 0 0 11 50 mph 5 A90 Stonehaven Road at Bridge of Dee 8 2 0 0 10 11 3 0 0 14 40 mph 6 A90 Anderson Drive @ Queens Road 6 2 0 0 8 6 3 0 0 9 40 mph 7 A90 North Anderson Drive at Provost Fraser Drive 5 1 0 0 6 5 0 0 0 5 40 mph 8 A90 North Anderson Drive at Provost Rust Drive 4 2 1 0 7 5 0 0 0 5 40 mph 9 A90 Parkway at Whitestripes Avenue 4 0 0 0 4 2 0 0 0 2 40 mph 10 A90 Parkway at Ellon Road 9 1 0 0 10 7 5 0 0 12 70 mph 78 72 Key: D/O Vehicle Damage Only Sl Slight Injury Sl Serious Injury F Fatal Injury

Increase/Decrease of collisions No of collisions before and after the installation of advertisement Location of roundabout D/O SL S

1 Wellington Road at Hareness Road -3 -1 0 2 North Esplanade West at Market Street -3 1 -1 3 Great Southern Road at Holburn Street -3 -2 0 4 A944 at Kingswells 2 2 0 5 A90 Stonehaven Road at Bridge of Dee 3 1 0 6 A90 Anderson Drive @ Queens Road nil 1 0 7 A90 North Anderson Drive at Provost Fraser Drive nil -1 0 8 A90 North Anderson Drive at Provost Rust Drive 1 -2 -1 9 A90 Parkway at Whitestripes Avenue -2 0 0 10 A90 Parkway at Ellon Road -2 4 0 ITEM PAGE

8 ITEM PAGE