Urban safety management (USM)
The Urban Safety Management (USM) scheme runs concurrently with the Local Safety Scheme.
Urban safety management (USM)
The Urban Safety Management (USM) scheme runs concurrently with the Local Safety Scheme. The Collision Investigation and Prevention (CIP) Team undertake USM analysis of principle towns in Somerset.
Somerset County Council’s Local Transport Plan 2006-11 identified that accidents involving vulnerable road users are a particular focus to address and, as such, particular emphasis should be given to pedestrians, pedal cyclists, motorcyclists, children and the elderly in this analysis and the subsequent reports.
The USM approach has been shown to reduce casualties in towns by tackling problems in an integrated fashion, enabling safety measures to be more effective by implementing them in line with an overriding safety policy for the town. An Urban Safety Management Strategy considers all options to reduce road accidents, for example trying to ensure that speeds are managed so that traffic moves more safely and/or directing traffic onto appropriate roads to achieve a safer distribution of traffic. Although USM reports include reactive measures as a means of addressing specific current problems, they also identify appropriate education programmes as a means of changing road user and pedestrian attitudes.
Local safety schemesUrban safety management guidelines
The Department for Transport’s (DfT) “Urban Safety Management Guidelines” defines the principles behind USM studies and hence a good safety management strategy for an area as one which:
- Formulates a safety strategy for the urban area as a whole
- Integrates safety with urban strategies
- Considers all kinds of users, especially the vulnerable road users
- Considers the functions of different kinds of roads
- Integrates existing casualty reduction efforts into the strategy
- Uses opportunities where other policies and strategies may help to achieve safety targets
- Encourages all professional groups to help achieve safety benefits
- Guards against possible adverse safety affects of other policies
- Encourages residents and all road users to own the process
- Translates strategy into local area safety schemes and
- Monitors progress towards safety objectives.