‘No blame learning’ key to achieving Vision Zero

“There is a huge number of dedicated and passionate professionals who are doing their utmost to improve road safety in the UK, but without the coordination that a Road Collision Investigation Branch can provide…a lot of the excellent work that is currently taking place will not have maximum impact.”

That is the conclusion in a keynote presentation delivered by Elizabeth Box as part of the Festival of Road Safety recently.  Liz Box, head of research at the RAC Foundation, has been looking at what a Road Collision Investigation Branch in the UK could achieve. The presentation is based on an ongoing DfT and National Highways funded road collision investigation project, that is due to complete in spring 2022.

The £1m project, being carried out by the RAC Foundation, has developed and trialled, with several police force areas, a different approach to identifying and understanding common themes and patterns that result in death and injury on the public highway. The presentation outlines the learnings that have come from the project to date, and discusses what a Road Collision Investigation Branch could seek to achieve if one were established in the UK.

Liz says: “If we are serious about achieving Vision Zero, it really is vital that we seek to learn the lessons from incidents on the road network. Without a feedback loop dedicated to no blame learning we are not going to get much further in reducing KSIs on our roads – and this becomes even more important with the changing road environment in future years.”