Safer Better Streets: Highway Infrastructure Priority Framework
High Risk Sites: Identification, Prioritisationand Assessment Criteria
January 2023
1. Introduction
1.1 An annual allocation is provided in the council’s Local Transport Plan budget to introduce safety measures at locations in the city with the worst collision history. The purpose is to use an evidence-led approach to target problem locations with small-scale interventions.
1.2 This note outlines how high risk sites are identified, prioritised and measures developed.
1.3 Requests received for safety-related changes at locations that have not been identified as high risk sites will be considered through the separate assessment framework outlined in the accompanying documents.
2. Defining a high risk site
2.1 Analysis of collisions is based on incidents reported to Sussex Police. Data on the number of incidents, injuries, type of road user involved and causation factors is provided by Sussex Safer Roads Partnership (SSRP)[1].
2.2 Officers will run a report using the collision database to identify all locations in the city with four or more collisions within a radius of 25m over a three-year period. The report is run early in each financial year using the latest data to have been uploaded to the database by Sussex Police.
3. Prioritisation of sites
3.1 The sites are ranked based on the number of collisions. Sites will then be reviewed, starting with the highest ranked site and using the following process:
· It will firstly be considered whether the site is included in an upcoming project. This is defined as a project which has funding identified. If so, measures seeking to address the collisions occurring will be incorporated into the design of those projects. The analysis of high risk sites will move to the next highest ranked site.
· The cause of collisions will be reviewed to see if there is an identifiable pattern and whether changes to the street could potentially help in reducing these incidents.
· If a common pattern to collisions and/or engineering solutions are not identified, the assessment will progress to the next ranked site and so on.
· If the engineering measures required are too large to be addressed through the high risk sites budget, these locations will be considered in future where funding opportunities allow. This could include bidding for external grant funding. For example, this is the case with Valley Gardens Phase 3 which includes two of the top ten sites based on the data for March 2019 to February 2022.
· If small-scale measures are identified, designs will be developed. Depending on the type of measure, the designs will be subject to engagement with ward members and local stakeholders. The changes will then be implemented.
4. Design considerations
4.1 Typical interventions may include minor changes to the road layout, such as side road entry treatments; changes to traffic restrictions; reviewing lining and signing; and, reducing speed limits (where supported by the Police and possibly alongside other measures).
4.2 The priority for designs will be to address factors that have been identified as contributing to the cause of collisions. This will not necessarily be measures that members of the public have requested. However, where there are outstanding requests at a particular high risk site, these will be considered and incorporated where possible and budgets allow.
4.3 Similarly, where a site has been identified as part of the Local Cycling and Walling Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP), consideration will be given to future proofing designs wherever possible. In some cases, where a site is part of a route identified as part of a longer-term priority in the LCWIP, it may be necessary to install interim measures with a focus on preventing collisions in the immediate term. These can then be reviewed as part of a wider scheme were funding to become available in future.
[1] SSRP is a partnership between the council, Sussex Police, East and West Sussex County Councils, East and West Sussex Fire and Rescue and National Highways https://sussexsaferroads.gov.uk/about/