The issues around encouraging children to travel independently while taking into consideration concerns about road safety will be discussed at the National Road Safety Conference in Bristol later this year.
The joint presentation will be delivered by Kris Beuret OBE, author of a recent paper about children and travel published by the Independent Transport Commission, and Heather Ward an honorary senior research fellow at UCL.
The presentation will cover the decline in unaccompanied journeys to school, the lack of strategic age related intervention work, and the trade-off between lower speeds and an increase in slight child casualties.
The presentation will form part of the ‘Public health & road safety’ session on day two of National Conference, which will also include contributions from Matt Staton and Dr Roderick Mackenzie, and Nick Butler from Modeshift STARS.
Kris Beuret is the director of Social Research Associates, a company specialising in research and consultancy into social aspects of transport.
Kris has advised governments on strategic approaches to consultation and evaluation, in particular in relation to so called ‘hard to hear’ groups including children, minority ethnic groups and people with mobility and accessibility problems.
Her road safety work includes the development of road safety strategies for various local authorities, evaluation of road safety interventions and the use of public involvement to address area wide road safety problems.
Her recent work (with Heather Ward and Claire Corbett) includes a study looking at women and drink driving.
Heather Ward is an honorary senior research fellow at UCL and an independent consultant.
Heather has worked in road safety research at UCL for the EU, national and local governments, the OECD, UK charities and trusts, and research organisations in Australia.
Her key experience is in the evaluation of road engineering schemes; speed management; vulnerable road user safety; inequalities, and understanding and improving data quality for all injuries, but especially those relating to road casualties.
2016 National Road Safety Conference
The 2016 National Road Safety Conference is being hosted by Road Safety GB South West Region in Bristol on 15-16 November and is co-sponsored by Colas, Jenoptik Traffic Solutions UK and Insure The Box. More than 150 people have already registered to attend the event and 16 companies will participate in the exhibition which runs alongside the conference.
The agenda will include sessions focusing on road user psychology, public health and road safety, and social marketing, social media and engagement.
Click here to register to attend the conference; click here for more information about exhibiting alongside the conference; or for more information contact Sally Bartrum (delegate registration and exhibition) or Nick Rawlings (speakers and agenda) on 01379 650112.