Road Safety - frequently asked questions

Child Pedestrian Training

How can I book a Child Pedestrian Training course for my school?

As the Child Pedestrian Training courses are over subscribed we book in schools on a first come first served basis. Every June, all schools across the city receive a letter outlining how they can reserve their course for the new academic year. Those schools who respond first will have a course reserved for them.

Can I book a Road Safety Officer to come and talk to my nursery group or Brownie or Scout group?

Unfortunately we are not able to provide a member of staff to come out to do talks. However, we do offer a selection of road safety resources which can be borrowed.

How can I book the road safety resources for my nursery?

To book road safety resources, contact the Toy Library at Hove Town Hall on 01273 290720. Opening times are 9.30-12.00 (Monday – Friday).

How can I book the road safety resources for my Brownie or Scout group or for my school?

To book the road safety resources, complete the booking form or phone the Road Safety team on (01273) 293704. Please note, all equipment can be borrowed up to half a term and must be collected and delivered back to Hove Town Hall, Norton Road, Hove.

Collision data

What are the differences between collisions and casualties?

A collision refers to the incident itself. The incident can involve any number of vehicles and people. This data only includes collisions where a person / people were injured.

Casualties are the people themselves who are injured in the collisions. These numbers can be higher than collision numbers as a single collision can result in more than one casualty.

Why do you publish collision and casualty data separately?

Collisions numbers are more relevant to analysing where, when and why the incident happened, so this data is used to identify what or where road safety improvements can be made.

Casualty numbers are referred to in nearly all of our national and local targets.

Where does the data come from?

Sussex Police supplies Brighton & Hove City Council with the collision and casualty data. Brighton & Hove City Council undertakes an extensive validation process before publishing any data.

What do you use the data for?

The main uses for the data are to help identify how we can improve road safety and to help review our performance:

• To help us to target groups of road users, so specific educational programs can be put in place to help reduce casualties.
• For detecting collision cluster sites
• To identify road safety improvements
• To evaluate how effective the Casualty Reduction Schemes have been in reducing casualties. It then helps us distinguish which Schemes can be recommended as more effective
• To calculate the cost benefit of Casualty Reduction Schemes. The Department for Transport provides an annual value of prevention per reported collision
• The Department for Transport collect data annually to track casualty figures locally and nationally

Are all crashes recorded?

The Department for Transport gives guidelines on this: "All road accidents involving human death or personal injury occurring on the Highway ('road' in Scotland) and notified to the police within 30 days of occurrence, and in which one or more vehicles are involved, are to be reported."

Examples of accidents to be reported include:

• accidents which commence on the highway but which involve casualties off the highway (eg where a vehicle runs out of control while on the highway and causes casualties elsewhere)
• accidents involving the boarding and alighting of buses or coaches and accidents in which passengers already aboard a bus/coach are injured as a result of braking, a sudden manoeuvre or a collision, whether or not another vehicle is involved
• accidents to pedal cyclists or horse riders, where they injure themselves or a pedestrian
• accidents resulting from deliberate acts of violence, but excluding casualties who are subsequently identified as confirmed suicides
• accidents within bus stations/interchanges where they form part of the highway

Examples of accidents which should not be reported include:

• accidents which do not involve personal injury
• accidents on private roads (except Royal Parks) or in car parks
• accidents reported to the police 30 or more days after they occurred
• accidents involving confirmed suicides only

Please note that the requirement for recording accidents as above are not the same as the legal requirements for parties involved in collisions to report collisions to the police. These are contained within Sect 170 Road Traffic Act 1988.

How much monetary cost is involved in a collision?

The Department for Transport provides an annual value of prevention per reported collision:

For more information on these costs please refer to the DfT website.

What are the differences between a serious and slight casualty?

The Department for Transport provides examples of serious and slight casualties:

Examples of 'Serious' injury are:

• fracture
• internal injury
• severe cuts
• crushing
• burns (excluding friction burns)
• concussion
• severe general shock requiring hospital treatment
• detention in hospital as an in-patient, either immediately or later
• injuries to casualties who die 30 or more days after the accident from injuries sustained in that accident

Examples of 'Slight' injury are:

• sprains, not necessarily requiring medical treatment
• neck whiplash injury
• bruises
• slight cuts
• slight shock requiring roadside attention

(People who are merely shaken and who have no other injury should not be included unless they receive or appear to need medical treatment).

Why is there no information regarding a recent collision?

The three most common reasons why we wouldn’t have information on a collision:

1. If a collision did not involve personal injury, this would not be recorded
2. If the collision was not reported to the police, we would not have any record of the collision as our data comes from Sussex Police.
3. The data may be recorded but not yet available

For more information about road safety, email transport.projects@brighton-hove.gov.uk