Skip to main content

Clearview Intelligence: The UK failing to embrace innovation to tackle road safety

60.3% of the 2,000 road safety professionals who attended the premier highway event at Highways UK revealed in a survey that new technologies and road safety innovations are vital to improving driver behaviour and road safety. However, 44% of the attendees are not adopting new road safety innovations today, according to the latest research conducted by Clearview Intelligence (CI).
November 10, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
60.3% of the 2,000 road safety professionals who attended the premier highway event at 8268 Highways UK revealed in a survey that new technologies and road safety innovations are vital to improving driver behaviour and road safety. However, 44% of the attendees are not adopting new road safety innovations today, according to the latest research conducted by Clearview Intelligence (CI).

 
Upon the current barriers to implementing the technology, 42% said that the most significant obstacle is due to the lack of available budgets for highways projects combined with government constraints on infrastructure spending. In addition, 32% felt unwillingness to change and aversion to risk were key challenges.

The results suggest that these factors could put the pace of innovation within the highways industry at risk over the next five years. One in 10 highways professionals are still not planning to invest in road safety innovations over this period despite initiatives such as the Government’s Road Investment Strategy, which aims to ‘help prevent over 2,500 deaths or serious injuries on the network’ by 2020.

Nick Lanigan, managing director, CI, said: “Direct from the Highways UK event, this research proves that, against the backdrop of financial restraints and the sector’s general risk aversion, the highways industry acknowledges the need for innovative solutions to our road safety challenges - both today and into the future.

“Whether you're from 8101 Highways England, a local authority or road contractor, all those involved in operating the UK road network ultimately want the same thing: smarter, safer and more efficient roads - and the solution is actually staring everyone in the face. There are tried and tested technologies which can be combined to deliver effective solutions that are proven to reduce road fatalities and injuries on UK roads.”

UTC

Related Content

  • March 28, 2017
    ACRS calls for Australian Government to commit to eliminating road trauma
    The Australasian College of Road Safety (ACRS) has released its 2017 ACRS Submission to Federal Parliamentarians - The way forward to reduce road trauma, outlining what it says is Australia’s stalled progress against National Road Safety Strategy 2011-2020 targets for death and injury reduction. According to ACRS, road trauma is one of the highest ranking public health issues Australia faces , with 1,300 deaths and 37,000 injuries per year, and rising. The causes and consequences of road trauma contin
  • January 16, 2013
    Improving road safety with better road safety indicators
    A new report from the International Transport Forum, a global transport policy platform with fifty-four member countries, entitled Sharing Road Safety states that governments can more effectively improve road safety by making better use of indicators that reliably quantify the reduction of crashes due to interventions in the road-traffic system. Almost 1.3 million people die in road crashes every year, and between 20 and 50 million are injured. Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among youn
  • December 5, 2018
    IBTTA summit hits right notes in Salzburg
    In the birthplace of Mozart, Colin Sowman found that delegates at the IBTTA’s inaugural World Tolling Summit were playing a variety of interesting tunes The first World Tolling Summit took place in Salzburg, Austria this autumn. Created and organised by the International Bridge Tolling and Turnpike Association (IBTTA), the event was supported by its European counterpart Asecap and hosted by Austria’s tolling authority, Asfinag. The transfer of views, experience and practice both ways across the Atl
  • January 9, 2019
    Governments must develop regulations to ensure AV safety, experts warn
    Governments are “lagging behind” in developing regulations to ensure the safety of autonomous vehicles (AVs). This was among the main messages from a key session at this week’s Consumer Electronics Event 2019 event in Las Vegas, US. Speaking during ‘Mobility and Connectivity Perspectives from the C-suite’, Joe Vitale, global automotive leader at Deloitte, said the company’s yearly consumer study has shown that more people feel getting into an AV is unsafe, which is in part due to the deaths caused b