Present your cycling safety ideas to policymakers

Is there a burning cycling safety issue that you feel could easily be rectified if only someone would listen to your ideas? Here’s your chance to put your thoughts to an audience of professionals who are in a position to do something about it.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has issued a call for papers for its 76th annual gathering of road safety researchers, practitioners and policymakers. Even if you are not a professional in the road safety arena, you can still submit a 500 word abstract to the charity with a view to making a presentation to the RoSPA congress in Bristol next February.

Potential speakers are being invited to outline presentations that particularly focus on road safety in the new economic climate and RoSPA is also seeking views on whether there really has been what it refers to as a “war on motorists” and, to this end, has invited papers on driver behaviour.

So while the focus may be primarily on academics and professionals, RoSPA is also happy to hear from “real world” road users who can offer road safety insights based on personal experiences backed up by reliable evidence-based research.

The issue of speed camera switch-offs is one that many cyclists feel strongly about and one which RoSPA itself has highlighted as local authority budget cuts start to bite.

Duncan Vernon, RoSPA’s road safety manager for England, said: “Difficult decisions about which important road safety activities to reduce are being faced across the country. In some areas, cut-backs to speed cameras are being considered or there is a question mark over continuing with local safety camera partnerships at all.”

Perhaps you feel you could make a compelling case for the continued use of speed cameras or for the adoption of other measures to make the lives of cyclists in Britain safer. If so, this could be your big chance.

Abstracts of up to 500 words should be sent to Kevin Clinton, Head of Road Safety, RoSPA, 353 Bristol Road, Birmingham, B5 7ST or to kclinton [at] rospa.com by September 24. RoSPA will cover the accommodation, meal and travel expenses of speakers attending the congress.