Tameside MBC – Traffic Calming.

Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council has successfully implemented a strategy using the Watchman Traffic Calming system to achieve targets laid out in a Department for Transport Public Service Agreement.

The local authority opted against the use of additional type approved safety cameras or the use of Variable Message Signs in isolation. Instead, it implemented a new traffic calming system - the Watchman Traffic Calming System - that educates rather than punishes road users. This innovative approach has brought remarkable reductions in personal injury accidents and the number of casualties.

A number of issues face local authorities and safety camera partnerships. These include:

The formation of safety camera partnerships and the deployment of safety cameras.

The requirements of local authorities tasked with finding innovative methods of reducing accidents causing death or injury.

The need to bring together the requirements of local authorities and safety camera partnerships in a proactive approach.

The following questions also become relevant:

Is it possible to co-ordinate a range of solutions to reduce casualties?

Is there evidence that non type approved traffic calming measures are effective?

In order to achieve the PSA targets within CM6234, Tameside M.B.C implemented the Watchman Traffic Calming System.

The objective of each system was to reduce the number of accidents, and the accompanying number of fatalities and injuries, caused by excessive speed. The first Watchman systems were installed in 2001 and there are now over 40 systems deployed throughout Tameside.

Traffic Calming Over Long Distances of Road
A Watchman system differs from conventional safety cameras in that it aims to reduce the speed of traffic over a large area of the road network and not just in known hot spots. In this way, Watchman gives a more accurate assessment of the driver’s average speed over distance.

When a vehicle enters a Watchman zone, the driver will proceed along a pre-specified path aimed at reducing speed. Zone Entry Signage alerts the driver to the need to follow the speed limit for that area. Then the speed of the vehicle is measured at two specific points. These are at the Variable Message Sign and at a Watchman camera, which will be activated if the vehicle is speeding.

A Watchman camera then captures the vehicle’s number plate along with details of speed, time and date. A warning letter may be sent to the motorist suggesting that he or she need to change their driving style and drive more slowly in the future. The images are digitally recorded, providing high quality, fully encrypted video evidence.

An integrated approach to Traffic Calming.

Rather than relying on cameras or signage in isolation, a Watchman unit is an integrated system that utilises the relative strengths of each component. For example, Variable Message Signs are incorporated as a deterrent to speeding motorists. If a vehicle is travelling too fast then the sign will flash and advise the drivers of the speed limit and remind them to slow down. Watchman is an integrated solution comprising Variable Message Signs, Warning Signs and Camera Units that calm traffic over long stretches of road.

Education, Not Enforcement
In a more constructive way than the single site safety camera, a Watchman system sets out to ’educate’ rather than ’book’ a guilty driver and as a result the system works as a major deterrent to speeding motorists and helps calm traffic movements.

Additional Design Features

Via a Watchman system, Tameside M.B.C can access live and recorded video images without physically having to visit the camera unit. This feature allows traffic engineers remote access to Watchman from a PC, laptop or dedicated monitoring station, with security provided by password protection as well as encryption of the digital footage. Additional features of the Watchman camera unit include an overview camera Additional physical protection comes from Watchman’s vandal resistant build qualities, as well as electronic measures that provide a number of alarm features.

Even so, Watchman is estimated to cost significantly less than a conventional box style roadside safety camera. Besides its operations in casualty reduction and recording of speeding vehicles, a Watchman
system can also be used for long-term analysis of traffic movement by counting each passing vehicle - in essence creating a traffic census for that stretch of road. It also enables engineers to view the state of the traffic for verification purposes. Tameside M.B.C uses Watchman to collect data and establish patterns such as the time of day when motorists are most likely to violate speed restrictions.
 
This information could prove invaluable to local authorities, highways authorities, highways
agencies, safety camera partnerships and the Police. A Watchman system is designed so that it can be relocated easily. All that is required at any new site is a new base and power supply.

Pilot Scheme
A pilot Watchman scheme was introduced in October 2001, supported by the Police and Highways Agency. This involved the installation of eight Watchman units within the district assembly area of Mottram in Longdendale as detailed below.

Location of the eight Watchman Systems in the district assembly of Mottram In Longdendale Click graphic for larger map

The Pilot Study area comprised the road (shown above) connecting Mottram in Longdendale and Hollingworth. Traffic numbers average around 500,000 vehicles per month here. Casualty education measures were deemed necessary as drivers could reach high speeds along the relatively straight road. Vehicles travelling eastwards use the road as a gateway from Greater Manchester through the Peak District to Sheffield.

A major concern was that in this direction, the road has a downhill gradient but there are three schools and a nursery all located at the end of this road. As shown on the diagram above, there were initially eight Watchman cameras strategically placed in the Longdendale area.

Findings at the Pilot Scheme

Actual data is available for six years, covering both the three year periods before and after the units were installed within Mottram in Longdendale. The table below details the statistics for accidents and injuries for the 36 month period prior to Watchman systems being installed

Above is a table showing change in Accidents and Injuries for the 36 months before and the 36 months after the installation of Watchman systems. It should also be noted that these statistics cover the entire District Assembly area of Mottram In Longdendale, and not just the roads where
Watchman systems were deployed.

The figures above indicate that the effect of the Watchman initiative was felt in the surrounding areas.

Financial Considerations

The DfT publishes an average cost per accident (table 4A HEN1 for 2003, published 2004). At the time of this publication, this cost is currently £61,120 per accident. Using the DfT figures, the reduction in the number of accidents by Tameside M.B.C has led to a financial saving to the
Council of just over £2,016,960.Tameside M.B.C states that the Watchman Pilot Scheme has paid for itself more than FOUR TIMES in its first three years.

However, these figures cannot take account of the impact that accidents have on individuals, families and communities.