Red Route Guide - Phase 21 Prepared by: Simon Mills Principal Highways Engineering Officer John Spencer Team Leader—Road Safety and Sustainability 1st April 2019 to 31st March 2020 Contents Page Number Contents 1 Contents page Chapter 1 Introduction to the Red Route Group 2 – 4 Red Routes / Statutory Duty / Road Network in Northamptonshire / Evidence Led Approach Motorcycle Red Routes / National Perspective / How the Service is Delivered Key Challenges / SCRIM and Grip Test / Key for Chapter 4; Chapter 5 and Chapter 11 Chapter 2 5 Phase 20 revisions to the active Red Route list for the period 2018/19 Chapter 3 6 Phase 20 active Red Route Rankings Chapter 4 7 – 8 Phase 20 active Red Route detailed listings Chapter 5 9 – 11 All Red Routes showing current status and date of action plan(s) Chapter 6 12 – 14 All Red Routes listed by road number Chapter 7 15 – 17 All Red Routes showing map co-ordinates and district / borough Chapter 8 18 Active Red Routes by Fire Station Area Chapter 9 19 Active Red Routes by parish and electoral division Chapter 10 20 Motorcycle Red Routes – Introduction and revisions to routes Chapter 11 20 18 active Motorcycle Red Routes Chapter 12 21 4 Flashing Amber Motorcycle Routes Chapter 13 21 14 Inactive Motorcycle Red Routes Chapter 14 22 All Motorcycle Red Routes showing current status Chapter 15 23 All Motorcycle Red Routes showing map co-ordinates and district / borough Chapter 16 24 Active Motorcycle Red Routes by Fire Station Area Chapter 17 24 Active Motorcycle Red Routes by parish and electoral division Chapter 18 25 – 26 Highways England locations and links Chapter 19 27 Highways England Routes listed by road number Chapter 20 28 Highways England Routes showing date of action plan(s) Chapter 21 28 Highways England Routes showing map co-ordinates and district / borough Chapter 22 29 2018/19 Meeting Schedule 1 | P a g e Chapter 1 Introduction to the Red Route Group Red Routes Through in-depth data analysis the most collision affected routes are designated Red Routes and are subject to an investigation by a working group comprising expert practitioners from Northamptonshire Highways and our Safer Roads Alliance partners. This group meets on a regular basis in order to survey and profile Red Routes using an evidence led process. Their remit is to reduce road casualties through engineering, enforcement and educational interventions. The criteria for Red Route designation is 4 KSI collisions within a 1000 metre stretch of road in a rural environment, and over 500 metres within in urban area, over the previous three-year period. To date, 187 Red Routes have been profiled, many of which have benefited from a range of effective measures which means that a significant proportion are no longer ‘active’ due to reductions in collision rates. Through constant data monitoring new sections of the network with developing collision histories can be quickly identified and designated as ‘Routes of Emerging Concern’ status for on-going scrutiny. Statutory Duty By virtue of S.39 Road Traffic Act 1988 Northamptonshire County Council, as local Highway Authority, has a duty to carry out studies into accidents occurring on County roads and to take action both in terms of Education, Training & Publicity (ETP), engineering and other measures to prevent accidents. Road Network in Northamptonshire Major: Trunk Roads Major: Principal Roads Minor Roads Total Road Length 224.2km 498.5km 3799.1km 4521.8km Evidence led approach In order to carry out studies, Northamptonshire Highways maintains a database of all personal injury collisions (PICs) within the county which have come to the attention of the police, on both the local and trunk network. Information is stored from as far back as the 1st January 1986. Red Route history runs from 1st January 2000. Collision data analysis is the key element in identifying ‘at risk’ road user groups and the most collision affected sections of the road network. Activity can then be directed to where it is most effective. For each financial year 12 routes are selected to be studied by the Red Route Working Group. The selection process prioritises new routes, followed by any re-activated routes and then the list is finalised by selecting those long term active Red Routes that have not been assessed for the longest period. These routes are then initially profiled using to 2016/18 collision data with any subsequent 2019 collisions included. For each route a full collision analysis and engineering study is undertaken and a report prepared which maps out any potential measures that could bring about a reduction in casualties on the route. The engineering report is then discussed by the Working Group and any additional enforcement or education opportunities are explored and taken forward. During Phase 19 the following routes (which form part of a longer route) have ceased to be monitored individually: RR8 (part of RR95); RR12 (part of RR105); RR47 (part of RR128) RR50 (part of RR158); RR57 (part of RR117); RR62 (part of RR05); RR112 (part of RR49) RR116 (part of RR18) and RR142 (part of RR63). In addition those Red Routes which are part of the Highways England managed network have also ceased to be monitored. 2 | P a g e Motorcycle Red Routes Using the same principle as the Red Route process, Motorcycle Red Routes are identified where rider casualties are significantly higher than other areas of the network. The only difference in assessing the Motorcycle Red Routes is that five years of baseline information are used instead of three. National Perspective British Road Safety Statement – Department for Transport – December 2015 The British Road Safety Statement now takes us into the next and most crucial phase, of casualty reduction in Britain by setting the short, medium and long term agenda. It is mainly aspirational but recognises the importance of the Safe System approach pioneered in Sweden and the Netherlands. This will require a fundamental transformation in the road safety profession to fully understand, adopt and implement the principles but there is evidence that it could be the catalyst to unlocking the present state of inertia and restore momentum in driving road casualties down. The Safe System is a targeted approach that ultimately aims to eliminate fatal and serious injury on the road network. It recognises that road users are fallible and inevitably make errors in judgment that may lead to a collision. It also acknowledges that there are limits to the force that the human body can withstand without causing death or serious injury. These limitations are directly linked to the type of collision and the speed of the impact. Individuals have a responsibility to act with care when using the network, but a shared responsibility exists with those who design, build and manage the roads to prevent collisions resulting in serious injury or death. In other words the road system should be designed to take account of these errors and vulnerabilities so that collisions are survivable. The British Road safety Statement promotes a ‘five pillar’ strategic approach for managing road safety and creating a truly safe system: Road safety management Safer roads and mobility Safer vehicles Safer road users Post-crash response Note: The new framework does not set any numerical targets for road casualty reduction. How the Service is delivered Our strategy is designed to achieve reductions in road casualties locally by delivering behavioural change interventions through the three E’s of road safety (Education, Enforcement and Engineering) to best effect through: Road safety management Partnership working Being intelligence-led & evidence based Maximising the use of technology Maximising community involvement Learning from the best Maximising use of the media Consistent communication between stakeholder agencies Generating additional income to fund extra work 3 | P a g e Key Challenges Our key outcome and over-arching objective is to reduce the instances of death and serious injury on the road network. Significant casualty reductions were achieved during the early years of our strategy with vehicle technology and legislation providing considerable influence together with our own effective interventions directed towards collision cluster sites, speeding motorists, and anti-social driving habits. Elements of these still prevail but it was always anticipated that a plateauing effect in casualty numbers would occur as they reached unprecedented low levels and we experience ever diminishing returns on road safety investment. Therein lays the challenge in how to make a significant and sustained impression upon greatly reduced, but relatively static, casualty numbers. Our collaborative focus will continue to be: the adoption of the Safe System approach improving safety on rural roads; protecting vulnerable road user groups; reducing inappropriate and illegal road user behaviours which increase the risk of road casualties including: speeding drink and drug driving careless and dangerous driving seatbelt compliance mobile phone distraction improving our knowledge and broadening the involvement in solving road safety problems; and working within funding constraints and future uncertainties SCRIM and Grip Test Around 30% of all personal injury collisions annually occur during wet surface conditions and, over a period, the surface will gradually lose some of the characteristics associated with grip which means that there is an increased risk of skidding collisions. As a result it is universally accepted that skid resistance is the one road surface characteristic which has the best-established relationship to collision risk and prevention. We therefore, as part of the Red Route process, commission Derbyshire County Council Laboratory to undertake Grip Testing at specific locations where we have identified a history, or emerging history of wet surface collisions. As an intelligence led process this information allows us to rule in, or out, the surface friction value as a potential contributory factor.