Road traffic collisions and safety (health and wellbeing needs in South Tyneside)

Speed

• An increase in average speed is directly related both to the likelihood of a crash occurring and to the severity of the consequences of the crash.
• An adult pedestrian's risk of dying is less than 20% if struck by a car at 50 km/h (approx. 30-mph) and almost 60% if hit at 80 km/h (approx. 50 mph)
• 30 km/h (approx. 20 mph) speed zones can reduce the risk of a crash and are recommended in areas where vulnerable road users are common like residential and schools areas.
• Apart from reducing road traffic injuries, lower average traffic speeds can have other positive effects on health outcomes (e.g. by reducing respiratory problems associated with car emissions).

Drink-driving

• Drinking and driving increases both the risk of a crash and the likelihood that death or serious injury will result.
• The risk of being involved in a crash increases significantly above a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.04 g/dl.
• Laws that establish BACs of 0.05g/dl or below are effective at reducing the number of alcohol-related crashes.
• Enforcing sobriety checkpoints and random breath testing can lead to reductions in alcohol-related crashes of about 20% and have shown to be very cost-effective.
• Young and novice drivers are subject to an increased risk of road traffic crashes, when under the influence of alcohol, compared to older and more experienced drivers.
• Laws that establish lower BACs (≤0.02 g/dl) for young and novice drivers can lead to reductions in the number of crashes involving young people by up to 24%.

Motorcycle helmets

• Wearing a motorcycle helmet correctly can reduce the risk of death by almost 40% and the risk of severe injury by over 70%.
• When motorcycle helmet laws are enforced effectively, helmet wearing rates can increase to over 90%.
• Requiring helmets to meet recognized safety standards ensures that helmets can effectively reduce the impact of a collision to the head in the event of a crash.

Seat-belts and child restraints

• Wearing a seat-belt reduces the risk of a fatality among front-seat passengers by 40-50% and of rear-seat passengers by between 25-75%.
• Mandatory seat-belt laws and their enforcement have been shown to be very effective at increasing seat-belt wearing rates.
• If correctly installed and used, child restraints reduce deaths among infants by approximately 70% and deaths among small children by between 54% and 80%.

Distracted driving

• There are many types of distractions that can lead to impaired driving, but recently there has been a marked increase around the world in the use of mobile phones by drivers that is becoming a growing concern for road safety. The distraction caused by mobile phones can impair driving performance.
• Drivers using mobile phones may have: slower reaction times (notably braking reaction time, but also reaction to traffic signals), impaired ability to keep in the correct lane, and shorter following distances.
• Text messaging also results in considerably reduced driving performance, with young drivers at particular risk of the effects of distraction resulting from this use.
• Drivers using a mobile phone are approximately 4 times more likely to be involved in a crash than when a driver does not use a phone. Hands-free phones are not much safer than hand-held phone sets.
• Public consultation took place between January and March 2016 which sought views on proposals to increase penalty points and fixed penalty notice (FPN) levels for using a hand-held mobile phone whilst driving. The overwhelming majority of respondents to the consultation supported increased sanctions for this offence.
• The following sanctions will be in place from March 2017:
  • raise the fixed penalty points issued under a fixed penalty notice for this offence from 3 to 6 for all drivers
  • raise the fixed penalty notice fine from £100 to £200 for all motor vehicles