MINUTES of the meeting of the ROAD SAFETY & TRAFFIC CALMING TOPIC GROUP held on 6 APRIL 2006

ATTENDANCE

Members of the Topic Group

N E Agar, R S Clements (Chairman), D S Drury, S Quilty (substitute for S M P Newton), S L Rackett, A D Dodd (substitute for J W A Usher)

Officers

David Moses – Head of Scrutiny

Paul Selley – Strategy Development Manager

James Dale – Strategy Development Manager

PC Andrew Chittenden

Oskan Edwardson – Director of Performance Management (BHAPS)

Mike Bartlett – Fleet Manager (BHAPS)

Neil Terry – Democratic Services Manager

1. / MINUTES FROM THE PREVIOUS MEETING
The Topic Group agreed the minutes as an accurate record of the meeting held on 30 January 2006.
2. /

PRESENTATIONS

2.1 / Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Ambulance and Paramedic Service
Oskan Edwardson and Mike Bartlett delivered a presentation to the Topic Group, copies of which were circulated to Members.
The key issue for BHAPS is their target response time of 8 minutes for Category A (life threatening) calls. Members were referred to the VF Survival Time Graph which illustrated the chance of survival drops by 10% per additional minute after 8 minutes.
The travel mode used by BHAPS relies on the road network and traffic calming measures directly affect the speed in which vehicles can travel to emergencies. BHAPS are concerned this can have a direct effect on survival rates.
The Topic Group were informed that BHAPS ambulances are fitted with air suspension units at the rear of the vehicles with an associated cost of £3k per ambulance. This is to control the type of ride for the patient and to enable treatment to be delivered in the rear of the vehicle. It was noted that 10-12% of faults with ambulances are suspension related.
The Following questions were asked by Members of the Topic Group:
1.  Do BHAPS have a preference between road humps or speed cushions for traffic calming purposes?
BHAPS have a preference for speed cushions as they enable ambulances to maintain a higher speed.
2.  Do BHAPS have maps identifying the speediest routes around the County?
Ambulances are fitted with Satellite Navigation and drivers are familiar with local roads and are therefore able to select routes accordingly.
3.  Do potholes cause damage to ambulances?
BHAPS have noticed a significant increase in the number of punctures on vehicles in the past year.
4.  Are serious spinal injuries compounded by speed humps?
Anything to do with the road surface will have an impact on the quality of travel. Speed and stability are the key points for BHAPS.
It was agreed that a contact name was required from BHAPS for future consultation exercises.
Greater involvement with traffic calming consultations was requested by the Topic Group as opposed to a generic response to the process. / PS
2.2 / Hertfordshire Highways
Paul Selley (Casualty Reduction) and James Dale (Prevention of Accidents) of Hertfordshire Highways provided details of informal and formal consultation arrangements.
Copies of the Local Authorities Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO) Procedures Section 6 (1) were circulated along with examples of statutory consultation correspondence.
A table providing ‘the total number of permanent TRO applications from 1 September 2004 to 31 March 2006 was circulated. It was noted that Police had responded to 100% of consultations whereas the Fire & Rescue Service and Ambulance Service had not responded during this period.
The Topic Group noted that Traffic Regulation Orders cost £1500 and are put up at the site of proposed installation. The public have a 21 day period to respond to the TRO, although Hertfordshire Highways adopt a flexible approach to receiving consultation responses.
3 years after installing a traffic calming measure the team assess the success or failure of the installation by measuring certain criteria. The key criteria is for an installation to reduce the number of accidents by 40%.
The Topic Group identified some possible changes to the current process:
·  There is a need for more consistency when notifying local members when an installation is proposed in their area
·  Could the Topic Group receive an audit of the 20 Road Humps installed during September 2004 and March 2006 to assess the consistency of the consultation process
·  A suggested recommendation for the final report was that a Consultation Document be produced to ensure future consistency for installing all types of traffic calming measures
·  The Topic Group requested some post installation statistics to show success of calming measures / PS & JD
PS & JD
PS & JD
2.3 / Fire & Rescue Service
Unfortunately due to potential strike action a representative was unavailable for this meeting.
2.4 / Hertfordshire Police Authority
Pc Andrew Chittenden represented Hertfordshire Police Authority at the meeting.
The Topic Group noted that Hertfordshire Constabulary have a close working relationship with Hertfordshire Highways and this enables them to work together at the informal consultation stage.
The Constabulary consider whether the proposed calming measure is going to do what it is designed to do and will often have a site visit with the engineer.
Follow up work is undertaken where necessary although a standardised system is in place.
3. / Work Programme
Next Meeting
The Topic Group would like to have the following agenda items:
·  Feedback on 20 Road Hump Consultations undertaken between September 2004 – March 2006
·  Here from road user groups such as:
-  Motorcycle Action Group
-  Cyclist Touring Club
-  Bus Companies
-  4x4 User Group
·  Fire and Rescue Service to provide their views on Traffic Calming Measures
·  Barnet and GLA inquiry reports

Neil Terry

Road Safety & Traffic Calming Topic Group Administrator

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