Our Barnsley safer roads strategy (BSRS) builds upon the reduction in road traffic collisions over the last 10 years. Estimates suggest there's been over 700 fewer road casualties. From these, more than 330 would have resulted in a life-changing injury or death. This is thanks to the efforts of Barnsley Council and key partners on the South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership (SYSRP).
In recent years, the number of serious injuries and deaths have reduced. Our new strategy intends to further reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured (KSI) on our roads. This will be done by adopting an internationally recognised ‘safe system’ proactive approach. This fully aligns with South Yorkshire Safer Road Partnership (SYSRP) “Strategy to 2030 and beyond”.
Our ambition
Our ambition is to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured (KSIs) by at least 50% by 2030. We know that every single death or serious injury is a tragedy and that one is too many. We have a long-term goal of zero people killed or seriously injured by 2050.
We want to improve our road networks and increase active travel across the borough.
Our strategy
The safer roads strategy states a clear plan of areas of action:
- Laying out a robust evidence-based approach to road safety on the underlying areas of concern. We'll then create an action plan to bring about meaningful change.
- Taking a more well thought out view of local road safety while adhering to regional and national road safety ambitions.
- Enabling a synchronised approach to road safety through a whole council approach. This will be done while working with regional and national partners to deliver on their road safety commitments.
- Focusing on our short, medium, and long-term road safety areas of actions and our commitment to deliver long term change.
- Making sure we've shared ambitions with our partners. This would be done in the form of a pipeline of projects, research and community-based collaboration intervention. This will help us secure funding for our people, communities and society.
This strategy is part of a national and international whole traffic approach and works to reduce road collisions.
Our partners
All our partners have a shared responsibility in helping us to deliver our road safety strategy. We’ll be working with a range of partners to deliver our strategy including:
- South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue
- Yorkshire Ambulance Services
- South Yorkshire Police
- South Yorkshire Safer Roads partnership
We'll also work with:
- Community groups
- Schools
- Further education providers
- National and regional transport authorities.
By working together, we’ll work to achieve our road safety ambitions.
Barnsley safe system pillars: “our people travel to arrive”
Our strategy adopts the internationally recognised safe systems approach, to reducing injury and saving lives. The safe system approach makes sure we take action across five key pillars. They include safe roads, safe vehicles, safe speeds, safe behaviours and post-collision learning. By taking action across these pillars, we can reduce the risk of collisions and reduce the risk of serious injury when collisions do occur.
These safe system pillars are our cornerstones in the delivery of safer roads for our people and communities. They contribute to South Yorkshire Partnership vision.
Road safety pillars
Our safe system approach is focused on five key pillars:
- Safer roads and public spaces - We'll make Barnsley’s local roads safer. We'll also work with national highways on trunk roads and connecting roads.
- Safer vehicles - Ensuring the vehicle on our roads meet legal requirements and support the transition to zero emission vehicles through the provision of appropriate infrastructure
- Safer speeds - we'll work to make sure everyone is travelling at a safe speed. This includes drivers and motorists.
- Safer road users - our strategy will seek to address a range of road users and types. These include pedestrians, motorists and cyclists.
- Post collision learning - post collision learning with the primary action (response) is to deliver emergency care. The secondary action is the aftermath including accident investigation, prevention and learning for the future. We'll learn how the system can be improved to prevent future collisions.
Education and engagement
We'll teach our children and young adults the correct conduct on our roads and public services. This is an investment in life skills and a road safety legacy for future road users. Through active engagement, we'll seek to understand how we can deliver an effective message. This is to target user groups and their social influencers, including family and friends.
Across all council departments, Barnsley will support the South Yorkshire Safer Road Partnership in their campaign timetables. We'll help in promoting safer road use and safer vehicles. This includes campaigns that educate and inform our people of changes in the highway code, as well as good behaviours.
A key aspiration of this area of action is to reduce inequality and accessibility. We'll be actively looking at how we can teach and engage with our target adult population. We'll improve their skills, knowledge, to access opportunities. We'll also look to help our elderly and retired in adapting to maintain their mobility in their communities.
Engineering and mobility
Our places are made up of roads and public spaces that are used by a variety of users. These are personal mode choices that reflect personal circumstances and mobility needs.
Our people have a shared liability in how they interact on our roads and public spaces. We're working across council departments, partners, elected members and communities. We'll identify design solutions and action plans. This will help us make our places safer for our people and those who come to Barnsley.
More information
Reviewing our strategy
Barnsley’s safer road strategy covers a ten-year period until 2032. Working with our partners, we’ll review the progress of our road safety strategy against our performance indicators and data. The review of these targets will be done annually, with a mid-year (initial) review.
A performance dashboard will be made. This will create a focal point to discuss performance and make sure that the response is evidence led.
Governance
We’ll work with partners, communities, and elected members to deliver our strategy. We'll make sure road safety is a shared responsibility.
If you'd like to read the full strategy, email us at publichealth@barnsley.gov.uk.
