Notes from meeting with Jane Kennedy on 16 November 2017



Present

  • Jane Kennedy, Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner
  • Bill McAdam, Community Engagement Officer for Merseyside PCC
  • Ian Campbell, Secretary, Wirral Pedestrians Association
  • Derek Gould, Chair, Cycling UK Merseyside
  • Victoria Doran, Treasurer, Wirral Pedestrians Association

Subjects discussed

  • The Liverpool City Region Road Safety Strategy
  • Whether the target reduction in serious injuries will be achieved with the current measures (the target reduction is from 599 per year currently to less than 400 by 2020)
  • What other measures are needed
  • The latest road casualty figures, including very high child cyclist casualties
  • The contrast between (a) the promotion of Bikeability training for children and (b) most decision makers in the region not cycling or allowing their children to cycle because they feel it is too dangerous
  • The Amey road engineer who is designing a Liverpool cycle facility not cycling at a site inspection because the company had health and safety concerns
  • The high average vehicle speeds in Liverpool compared to Manchester
  • More speed cameras
  • More infrastructure for cycling, including along major routes
  • The assumption by some engineers and politicians that high vehicle speeds are a necessity
  • Jane Kennedy agreed that 'Speed is killing people' and is pushing for lower vehicle speeds, and stated that enforcement drives down the KSI figures
  • JK: Vision Zero Merseyside requires a mind shift
  • The safety in the Netherlands comes from the hierarchy of pedestrians, cyclists, trams, motor vehicles
  • The Merseyside Police guidance on 20mph speed limit enforcement refers to obsolete national guidelines
  • Police vehicles being parked on pavements even after the recent deaths of two children (one on the Wirral) from vans being driven on to pavements to park
  • Jane Kennedy is meeting Cllr Steve Munby soon to discuss road safety


Decisions

Jane Kennedy will consider
  • A Merseyside roads policing strategy, or elaboration of the current Police and Crime Plan
  • Updating the Merseyside Police guidelines on 20mph speed limit enforcement
  • More tweeting by Merseyside Police about road safety including speed limit enforcement (like West Midlands Police)
  • Asking the Government via the Association of PCCs for speeding and other fines to be hypothecated, in whole or in part, to fund the costs of Police enforcement, particularly under the current, austere conditions.


Jane Kennedy took some "Pavements are for People" posters for display and distribution.


Meet again in 4 months



Drafted by Ian Campbell; approved by Jane Kennedy and Bill McAdam 29 Nov 2017