Ellie Ames 19 June 2024

Lack of funding hindering road safety, councils say

Lack of funding hindering road safety, councils say image
Image: Dominik Pietruszka / Shutterstock.com

Limited funding and inadequate data are major barriers to road safety planning and measurement, local authorities have reported.

In a survey of 200 council bosses, 63% cited lack of funding as an issue, while 45% said they faced a lack of accurate data when assessing the success of road safety schemes and infrastructure.

Transport solutions provider VivaCity also asked local authorities to rank motor vehicles, buses, cyclists, pedestrians and e-scooters based on their priorities for road safety.

Just 6% said cyclists were their top priority, while more than half (55%) put pedestrians top.

E-scooter users were ranked least important by more than half of respondents (51%).

VivaCity CEO Mark Nicholson said: ‘These findings highlight critical gaps in road safety prioritisation and resource allocation.

‘Focusing on the safety of all types of vulnerable road users including cyclists and pedestrians is key to boosting active travel.

‘There is an urgent need for local authorities to reevaluate their existing data to ensure that they have access to accurate analysis on the success of road safety schemes so that we can create safer and more sustainable towns and cities.’

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