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Glasgow Live
Glasgow Live
National
Sarah Hilley

Glasgow council able to track speeds on every street in bid to improve safety

A new car speed tracking tool is being rolled out by Glasgow City Council as calls are being made to increase efforts to prevent road smashes.

The speed analysis tool uses intelligence from sat navs and mobile phones among other information sources based on millions of car journeys within 12 months.

The council has been using the system for about six months to keep an eye on speed as part of efforts to improve road safety.

READ MORE: New Glasgow cycle paths planned for five roads in north east

Road safety officer George Cairns told a meeting last week: "This new system allows us to access speed data for any street in the city without having to undertake expensive site checks."

He added: "It is a very useful piece of kit we have just acquired which allows us to check any street throughout the city for speed data."

Speaking at the Safe Glasgow Partnership meeting he said the council tries to prevent collisions though engineering measures to roads, including speed bumps, traffic calming and road design.

He said: "They are applied in areas where we know there are casualties and we know speeding is an issue."

Mr Cairns said: "More often than not collisions are occurring in random locations or on arterial routes. Human error unfortunately has always been and still is one of the highest causation factors in collisions."

The meeting heard the council looks at data where there have been road traffic collisions to determine actions including road changes or education.

Glasgow has a target of no fatalities or serious injuries on city roads by 2030.

But tragically there have been a worrying number of deaths on Glasgow roads this year.

Scottish Greens councillor Holly Bruce said the new speed tool is "positive."

She said: "There needs to be a massive undertaking in terms of education in relation to vehicles users like bus drivers and taxi drivers and people who can do serious damage to cyclists and pedestrians."

She called for more information to be collected on road incidents where people escape without injuries to help identify potential danger hotspots before an accident.

Mr Cairns said there is a message for everybody and referred to the work of Scottish Occupational Road Safety Alliance (SCORSA), which promotes fleet safety.

He said there could also be local promotion of safety, including HGVs.

Mr Cairns said the council only have access to road incident data involving injuries. He said he would look at whether it was possible to obtain data on collisions, which didn't result in injuries.

Mr Cairns said a Go Safe Glasgow Road Safety Partnership is being resurrected, which will see council officers working with the police, NHS and Scottish Fire & Rescue Service and community safety.

A council official said communities may be able to voice concerns about accident hotspots during the roll out of liveable neighbourhood projects.

The meeting also heard progress is continuing on a road safety working group involving the police and council.

Councillors were told an interactive tool would be used to promote engagement on the matter.

READ MORE:

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