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.”

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Curiosity Lab and SCATL promote AV mobility
    August 1, 2019
    A US driverless vehicle ‘living laboratory’ has partnered with Smart City Expo Atlanta (SCATL) - the US edition of Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona. Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners is a 5G-enabled autonomous vehicle (AV) test bed with a 1.5 mile AV track within a 500-acre commercial office park in the city of Peachtree Corners, Georgia. City manager Brian Johnson says start-ups and “mature companies” can use the test track to better understand how their technology operates in a suburban com
    Read More
  • Most Brits do not expect new transport tech anytime soon, says Fujitsu
    April 16, 2019
    Three-quarters of Brits do not expect to see artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) or machine learning (ML) used in transport in the next five years, says Fujitsu. Eight out of 10 respondents to a survey for the Japanese tech firm also do not anticipate the use of facial recognition for security purposes in that time. Despite this, the British public welcomes new technology used in transport, with more than a third of respondents saying that technologies such as contactless payments
    Read More
  • London needs just one road user charge, says report
    July 8, 2019
    London’s patchwork of road charging schemes should be replaced by a single, distance-based user charge, according to new research. Apart from anything else, it would be much fairer… The UK capital’s multiple road charging schemes require a radical overhaul, according to a new report by the Centre for London thinktank. The suggested solution is to replace existing levies on drivers with a single, distance-based user charge which would more fairly reflect how much, and at what time, people are using London
    Read More
  • Canadian government invests in zero-emission vehicles
    April 23, 2019
    The government of Canada says it is to invest CAN$300 million over three years in zero-emission vehicles. Marc Garneau, minister of transport, says: “The Government of Canada is working to accelerate the adoption of zero-emission vehicles to help make it easier for Canadians to be part of the solution to climate change and to reduce their daily driving costs.” The federal purchase incentive is part of this year’s budget and applies to vehicles that are purchased or leased on, or after, 1 May. To be eli
    Read More

Highlighted Content