Road Safety Councils are excellent methods for improving communication between the council staff working in Road Safety, with the key stakeholders on a local level and the community at large in order to improve the effectiveness of casualty reduction for the Hampshire community.

Function

Hampshire County council has three Road Safety Councils operating across the county with the following functions:

1. To promote and encourage road safety education, training and publicity in the area in accordance with the casualty reduction policies of the County Council.

2. To encourage the activities of local groups and organisations in road safety matters, seek the involvement of the local community in support of the road safety programmes.

3. To support initiatives and promotion of local campaigns designed to improve public awareness of road safety.

The areas covered, their County Council representatives and the Chair and Vice Chairs of the areas are shown below:

North

Basingstoke - Cllr. M Tucker (Vice Chairman)

Hart - Cllr. S Wheale (Chairman)

Rushmoor - Cllr. R Kimber

Central

Eastleigh - Cllr. B Tennent

New Forest - Cllr. A D G Evans

Test Valley - Cllr. P West (Chairman)

Winchester - Cllr. P Dickens (Vice Chairman)

Southern

Fareham - Cllr. K Evans

Havant - Cllr. R Bolton (Vice Chairman)

Gosport - Cllr. C Carter (Chairman)

East Hampshire - Cllr. S Darragh

Minutes

Minutes of the Road Safety Council meetings are available below:

Central Area - 14 February 2013

Central area - 09 February 2012

Central Area - 18 October 2012

South Area - 26 February 2013

South area - 14 February 2012

South Area - 30 October 2012

North Area - 8 February 2013

North area  3 February 2012

North Area - 12 October 2012

Chairmens Meeting - 15 January 2013

Chairmen's meeting - 10 May 2012

Chairmans meeting - 19 January 2012

Community SpeedWatch is an initiative co-ordinated by Hampshire Constabulary.

Speeding is one of the factors that most affects the quality of life in communities around Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, It can be a factor in road traffic collisions and impacts on the day to day lives of people in the community.

The scheme itself is coordinated by Hampshire Constabulary, but operated by your local police safer neighbourhood teams and community volunteers.

To find out more about the Community SpeedWatch scheme, please either open the leaflet below, or contact the safer roads officers at:

road.policing.management@hampshire.pnn.police.uk

Lower speed limits in Hampshire villages

In autumn 2008, the County Council introduced a maximum speed limit of 30 miles per hour (mph) in 39 Hampshire Villages.

In 2009, a further 73 villages had speed limits on their roads set at 30 mph during the second phase of the Village 30 programme.

Implementation of the 30 mph speed limits was completed in 2010 where a total of 112 villages benefited from the initiative.

Reduction in  driving speeds

A combination of safety engineering with both education and enforcement meant that Village 30 resulted in a steady reduction in driving speeds. Monitoring demonstrated an average reduction in driving speeds of nine per cent and a road traffic accident reduction by as much as 80 per cent.

Village 30 was initiated by the County Council's Leader and the Executive Member of the Environment, in response to concerns about traffic speeds expressed by those living in rural communities. It was also in line with the release of revised Government guidance on setting speed limits, which stated "villages should have comparable speed limits to similar roads in urban areas".

Royal acclaim

Following the success of the scheme, Hampshire County Council were presented with a Prince Michael International Road Safety Award.

Executive Member for Environment, Councillor Mel Kendal said:

"Receiving the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award is a real honour. The Village 30 scheme has brought about a real change for the better in many of Hampshire's villages. Introducing a 30 mph speed limit has helped to make living in those villages safer and improved the village environment. Being able to get around a village freely and safely is an important factor in a person's quality of life. The initiative however, is about reducing speeds, not punishing drivers.

"I would like to command all of the partners that were involved in bringing the scheme to fruition. It was achieved within a relatively short timescale and this would not have been possible without the support and commitment of those partners who include parish councils, the police and our contractors."

Awareness Campaign

To support the introduction of the 30 mph speed limit in the villages, a 'Choose 30' education and awareness campaign was implemented to remind drivers to slow down through villages. Parish councils were provided with a pack of materials for local residents, which included wheelie bin stickers, pub beer mats and sandwich bags for use by village stores or bakeries. This activity was reinforced with bus back advertising and public message broadcasts on local radio.

Through the Village 30 scheme and Choose 30 campaign, the aim has been to get motorists to moderate their driving, respect the speed limit and be more aware of the village communities they are passing through.

Presenting the award to Councillor Kendal on behalf of Prince Michael, Tony Spalding, Chairman of RoadSafe and member of the Award judging panel said: "The judges were very impressed by the Council's initiative, particularly the involvement of the village communities. Speeding and accidents on rural roads are a cause of great concern to RoadSafe and we applaud the way Hampshire has addressed this issue".