Road Safety

Latest News

There are major changes happening to the Highway Code from 29 January 2022. Find out more about these changes in our Road Safety Bulletin webpage.

Road safety development

Glasgow has a statutory duty under section 39 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 to provide a road safety service which must include measures to promote road safety through education, training and publicity and to undertake studies into road traffic collisions and take steps to reduce and prevent them.

In 2010 the Scottish Government set new casualty reduction targets to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on Scotland's roads. Over the past decade we have made significant investment in our road safety service and casualty figures are now at their lowest ever on record.

For 2030 Glasgow City Council has set out its own vision, which is to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI) on Glasgow's roads to ZERO by 2030.

The Scottish Government has also set national targets which include:

• 50% reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI)
• 60% reduction in the number of children killed or seriously injured (KSI)
• 40% reduction pedestrian (KSI)
• 20% reduction cyclist (KSI)
• 30% reduction motorcyclist (KSI)
• 20% reduction people aged 70 and over (KSI)
• 70% reduction people aged 17-25 (KSI)

In order to meet our targets Glasgow has adopted the Safe System approach to road safety.

Safe systems is an approach to road safety management, based on the principle that our life and health should not be compromised by our need to travel. No level of death or serious injury is acceptable in our road transport network.

The Safe System approach has five pillars of action. ● Safe road use. ● Safe vehicles. ● Safe speeds. ● Safe roads and roadsides. ● Post-crash response.

Road safety education

Glasgow has a dedicated Road Safety Unit that provides a city-wide road safety education, training and publicity service. As well as supporting the development and delivery of national education resources, the team also provide a bespoke 'hands-on' local education service providing programmed road safety lessons and training to every child in every school in the city.

Although learning is a life-long experience, it is important to recognise the benefits of instilling road safety skills at an early age as part of our skills for life programme. Our work is closely aligned with the curriculum for excellence and designed to create the next generation of safe active travellers with positive road safety attitudes and behaviours.

The Road Safety Unit also have a new 'STARS' website which gives information and advice for everyone on School Travel and Road Safety. 

Road Safety education within Curriculum for Excellence will provide children and young people with opportunities to develop their skills for learning, skills for work and skills for life. Our STARS activities have been developed to be engaging and enjoyable whilst ensuring effective learning.

Schools can contact the Road Safety Team and work their way to earning one of our Lord Provost School Travel and Road Safety (STARS) Award!

You can view the different activities that the team delivered in schools, on social media using #GCCRoadSafety.

Road safety engineering

The traditional engineering approach to Accident Investigation and Prevention (AIP) has focused on providing both standard and innovative engineering interventions to reduce casualties at collision cluster sites or 'accident hotspots'. These sites are reviewed, in partnership with the police and other agencies to ascertain what measures can be put in place to reduce the type of collision occurring at a particular location.

The focus of road safety AIP engineering to 2030 will be to apply the safe systems approach to protect our most vulnerable road users through the auditing of new road and existing infrastructure, the creation of safer low traffic neighbourhoods and introduction of a city-wide mandatory 20mph zone.

As a local authority, there are only certain measures within the safe systems approach that we have a direct responsibility for, however we intend to work closely with our partner organisations at a local, regional and national level to ensure that we engage, influence and encourage others to support the system and our vision.

Road safety publicity

The Go Safe Glasgow road safety partnership has been in place for over 10 years and has delivered a number of unique campaigns to address local issues. Partnership working is a key area of the safe systems approach and as such Glasgow will continue to work alongside our colleagues in the police, fire, NHS and other recognised agencies and charities as part of our Go Safe Glasgow road safety partnership. We also support the delivery of national campaigns which tend to focus on national priorities such as speeding, driving at work, drink and drug driving, older road users and young drivers. It is important that each campaign is supported and combined with other measures, such as direct engagement within the community and where necessary enforcement.

The primary aim of any campaign is to motivate a specific target group to adopt safer behaviour as a matter of habit or, in general to increase awareness of road safety issues. More and more campaigns are using social media, however it is important that we continue to provide direct engagement with certain road users such as the elderly

Road safety training

Bikeability is cycle training where children receive comprehensive training to give them the skills and confidence to cycle on today's roads.

There are 3 levels available:

• Level 1 teaches basic bike skills in the playground and is aimed at Primary 5 pupils
• Level 2 teaches basic bike skills in a controlled live road environment and is aimed at Primary 6 pupils
• Level 3 is a more advanced course suitable for schools who are able to commit additional time for on road training and is aimed at Primary 7 pupils.

Teachers can be trained as Bikeability Scotland Instructors, enabling them to deliver Bikeability within their school.  Interested volunteers in the community can also receive training and assist schools to deliver the training.

For further information contact the Road Safety Unit at RoadSafety@glasgow.gov.uk