The aims and objectives for Cumbria County Council’s Select Committee on Road Safety will be outlined tomorrow. The meeting of the Council’s Environmental Quality and Safety Scrutiny Panel (10.30am, County Offices Kendal) will also see representatives from members of the Cumbria Road Safety Partnership detail their existing initiatives to improve road safety and their hopes for future projects.
With approximately 50 people killed on the roads in Cumbria every year, reducing the number of people killed or injured in accidents is a priority for authorities and emergency services across the County. The Road Safety Partnership has been established to work towards this aim.
The partnership includes a range of stakeholders including Cumbria County Council, the Cumbria Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Cumbria Constabulary, the Highways Agency, the Freight Transport Association, Primary Care Trusts and the Road Haulage Association. It has helped to make progress in reducing the numbers of seriously injured people on Cumbria’s roads in recent years, however it has proved more difficult to bring down the number of fatalities.
At its last meeting Cumbria County Council’s Environmental Quality and Safety Scrutiny Committee agreed to establish a Select Committee on Road Safety in order to undertake a three-month inquiry aimed at assessing and improving measures to reduce road casualties.
The Select Committee’s specific objectives are:
· To gain a better understanding of the work currently undertaken to address the issue of people killed and seriously injured on Cumbria’s roads.
· To determine whether Cumbria is allocating its resources to the best effect with particular regard to its pattern of activity to reduce road accident fatalities.
· To learn of new and transferable initiatives, which are not currently used in the County, which may help to reduce the number of fatalities and help to inform any future road safety action.
Councillor Colin Nineham, Chair of Cumbria County Council’s Environmental Quality and Safety Scrutiny Panel, said:
"All partners in the Cumbria Road Safety Partnership work hard to try and reduce accidents on the County’s roads. A lot has already been achieved and we have an excellent foundation to build on. The aim of the Select Committee on Road Safety is to assess our progress and to ensure that we take the best route forward to try and make Cumbria’s roads as safe as possible."