Road Safety Foundation set to improve road safety
The Road Safety Foundation has received £199,867 funding from the Road Safety Trust to help vulnerable road users.
The Road Safety Trust, a charity dedicated to making the UK’s roads the safest in the world, has awarded £837,900 in its latest funding round to a total of six organisations across the UK to help improve road safety.
The project will provide Local Authorities with a specialist resource to help understand the risks to vulnerable road users in towns and cities. It will also help Local Authorities to understand the benefits of introducing different traffic measures to their urban areas to improve the environment for these users. The project will work in partnership with the successful International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP), four Local Authorities and charity Brake.
The new resources will be freely available and will help authorities to better analyse their urban road networks and identify cost effective improvements targeted at reducing fatal and serious injuries in all user groups.
Kate Fuller, Road Safety Engineering Director of the Road Safety Foundation said: “This is an exciting project which will ensure that the latest thinking and innovation for safety measures for vulnerable road users in urban environments are fully embedded within the iRAP tools. The enhancements will see the innovative application of a proven tool for rural road safety management extended into the urban context.
It will provide Local Authorities a greater suite of evidence-based countermeasure options to implement in Safer Roads Investment Plans for urban streets, particularly for those targeted at improving safety for vulnerable road user groups.
“The improved tools will help authorities to better analyse their urban road networks and identify cost effective improvements targeted at reducing fatal and serious injuries and we would like to thank the Road Safety Trust for their help and funding for this extremely important project.”
The Road Safety Trust is the largest independent road safety grant giver in the UK and funds vital research and practical interventions committed to reducing the number of people killed or injured on UK roads. Since it was established in 2014, the Road Safety Trust has awarded grants worth £3.6m to 47 different projects.
Sally Lines, Chief Executive of Road Safety Trust said:
“The standard of applications was really high in 2019 with over 20 applications received under the theme ‘Innovative traffic calming and provision for vulnerable road users’.
“We are pleased to be able to provide the Road Safety Foundation with funding to help achieve our vision of zero deaths and serious injuries on UK roads. We want to make the roads safer for all users in particular vulnerable road users which includes pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.”
