Spotlight is shone on Trust-funded projects at National Road Safety Conference
Hundreds of delegates heard about the excellent and varied work of several Road Safety Trust grantees at the National Road Safety Conference this week.
The Conference, held at Wyboston lakes in Bedfordshire on Tuesday and Wednesday, 4-5 November and organised by Road Safety GB, brought together road safety professionals from across the UK, including practitioners, academics, police officers and charities.
Around 90 presentations were given across the two days, with projects funded by The Road Safety Trust featuring prominently. They included:
Dr Phil Martin from TRL spoke about the ‘Data Sustains Lives’ project, linking national and in-depth road collision investigation and healthcare data together within the PRANA database;
Prof Duncan Guest from Nottingham Trent University, along with Richard Hannan from Surewise and Rebecca Morris of Vision Zero Communications, who spoke about the research undertaken into the prejudice and dangers faced by mobility scooter users;
Dr Dan Bishop from the Bikeability Trust, along with his colleague Benjamin Smith shared details of the Virtual Rider Training Tool which is enhancing young riders’ attitudes towards cycling on roads and helping to improve their ability to cycle safely;
James Gibson from RSGB, spoke about the ADI Register which has been introduced as a result of the Ageing Driver Course – giving ADIs the tools and knowledge to support mature drivers;
Dr Helen Viner, who helped develop the LASR Approach to help local authority highways teams improve skid resistance on local roads;
Dr Ruth Madigan from the Institute for Transport Studies at University of Leeds, who spoke about the Risk Awareness and Perception Training (RAPT) which it is hoped will allow young drivers to be exposed to scenarios which may not be safe to test on the roads;
Dr Carol Hawley of CARGY Research Consultancy, who shared the latest on her evaluation project looking at standardised driver assessments for mature drivers; and
Dr Fran Pilkington-Cheney from Nottingham Trent University, who spoke about the Trust-funded ‘SleepiEst’ project, the data from which will be used to produce a model which predicts sleepiness risk.
Louise Palomino, Grants and Impact Director at The Road Safety Trust, attended the Conference. She said: “Everyone seemed very engaged at this year’s Conference, and the organising committee should be congratulated on another successful event.
“The agenda across the two days was packed with a fascinating array of speakers offering insights into a variety of road safety topics.
“I was particularly pleased to see such a receptive audience for the various Trust-funded projects, and I want to thank those grantees who presented for their time and continued dedication.”