On 23 February 2023, SoRSA are hosting a Road Safety Workshop in the York Suite of the Aston Court Hotel, DE1 2SL.
Join the SoRSA East Midlands Road Safety workshop in-person event which promises to be an inspirational and a good day of learning as well as an opportunity to catch-up with and meet new industry colleagues.
The aim of this workshop is to provide insight into a variety of road safety topics aimed at Road Safety Auditors, Engineers and Designers.
The topics will cover human behaviour and road safety, compliance of road safety audits, Legal issues from an injury lawyer’s perspective, role of data in road safety and a slot for “what is the recommendation”.
Aston Court Hotel is looking forward to providing us with a warm welcome and top-class hospitality and facilities throughout the day, including drinks, refreshments, and lunch.
The SoRSA committee of volunteers has organised and hosted this event and we look forward to welcoming you. For event queries please contact SoRSA: sorsa@ciht.org.uk
The format for the day will comprise of a talk from SoRSA Chair, followed by six speakers and an interactive question and answer session from our guest panels. Refreshments and networking opportunities will be provided throughout the day where delegates can interact with each other and other committee members. See the full programme on the tab above.
Aston court hotel is on Midland road, Derby DE1 2SL just across the road from the Derby train station. The workshop will take place in the York suite located to the rear of the hotel, please enter via the carpark entrance located on park street.
This room has its own air conditioning, welfare facilities situated directly outside the room, natural daylight and is on the ground floor.
There is a separate foyer area just outside the room where refreshments (lunch, tea, coffee, biscuits) can be served ensuring the main York Suite is not disturbed during the day. Free Wi-Fi is available throughout the hotel.
By rail
Aston Court Hotel is situated directly opposite the Derby Mainline Railway Station and easily accessible by road. Derby Train Station – 0.6 miles 7 mins drive/5 minutes’ walk.
Walking or Cycling
If travelling by train, or just parking at the rail station, the station is only a 5-minute walk from the Hotel. You can get walking directions from your home by using Google Maps and entering the postcode for Aston Court Hotel (DE1 2SL) as your destination. For further information on walking and cycling routes in Derby please visit sustrans.org.uk or cyclederby.co.uk
By car
Easy Access M1 – 10 minutes drive, directly off A52. Aston Court Hotel is located just 0.8 miles from Derby City Centre, with easy access to the M1 Junction 25. The venue has a large car park to the rear of the hotel which can accommodate up to 60 cars free of charge.
Accommodation
The Stuart Hotel, Pentahotel Derby, Holiday Inn, and Travelodge and more hotels around the venue.
Please book your tickets via the 'Book Now' button on this event page. You can book your place using a credit/debit card (please note that we do not accept American Express).
The venue can accommodate 60 delegates including speakers, as soon as we reach 50 delegates, booking will be closed.
This event is open to both members and non-members of SoRSA and CIHT and should be of interest to Road Safety Auditors, Road Safety Engineers, Local Authorities, Traffic Engineers and Transport Planners, Highway & Transport Engineers at all levels & specialisms and anyone with an interest in road safety, highways and transportation.
For event queries please contact SoRSA: sorsa@ciht.org.uk
Should you have any queries related to bookings for this event, please contact CIHT: regions@ciht.org.uk
Meet & Greet with SoRSA Committee Volunteers
Refreshments (Coffee/tea & biscuits)
Chair – Dennis Symons
Kate Carpenter, Director Operational Road Safety at Jacobs
Frances Senior, Behavioural Change Associate at WSP
Haydn Vernals, Director at Sevenairs Consulting Ltd
Kate carpenter, Frances Senior, Hayden Vernals
Two course savoury finger buffet lunch and Refreshments
Networking
Dennis Symons, Independent/Retired Principal Engineer – Road Safety, and current SoRSA Chair
Philippa Simpson, Qualified Solicitor at Horwich Cohen Coghlan (HCC)
Refreshments (Coffee/tea & biscuits)
Eric Hill, Principal Engineer at Sweco UK Ltd
Philippa Simpson, Eric Hill
SoRSA Committee, SoRSA
Thanks from the SoRSA Committee
Kate Carpenter, Director of Operation Road Safety at Jacobs – ‘Human factors: where road users and infrastructure collide’
Kate is a Chartered Civil Engineer CEng FICE; FSoRSA BEng Psych, but NOT a psychologist or HF expert. Kate is Discipline Lead (Director) for Operational Safety and Traffic Engineering at Jacobs, including road safety audit; walking cycling horse-riding assessment/review; collision investigation and prevention; road risk assessment; safe road design, and safety governance for National Highways projects.
Kate will bring her experience of audit, design, casualty reduction and study of psychology to share a range of examples of why road user behaviour can and does confound the expectation of even the most experienced designers, network managers, road safety engineers and human factors experts. She will share some rules of thumb to help inform decision making and solving problem locations, to maximise benefits and minimise the likelihood of adverse unintended outcomes.
35 years in highways, 25 in Road Safety - from mini roundabouts to TSC evidence for Smart Motorway Inquiry. This includes casualty reduction; road safety audit; policy and process preparation; collision database management; speed management and development control and safety governance on projects. She delivers road safety services to local and strategic highway authority clients including National Highways, Welsh Government, Transport Scotland and Transport for London, and represents Jacobs through conference paper presentation and CIHT, PACTS, Transport Safety Commission and Road Safety Observatory.
Frances Senior, Behavioural Change Associate at WSP – ‘Road users behaviours in different environments and conditions’
Road users behaviours in different environments and conditions with respect to road layouts, and how behavioural change insight can inform designers and decision makers regarding positive interventions for better driver behaviour.
Frances has 31 years of Public Service, with the last 28 of those being within Policing, mostly within the Forensic Science arena investigating, prior to joining WSP Frances was the Head of the Forensic Collision Investigation Network (FCIN) covering the 43 Police Forces of England and Wales, where she was responsible for raising standards of the forensic investigations of fatal and serious injury RTCs, defining the educational and qualification requirements of investigators and leading a remote team of over 25 experts.
Frances has strong links with Cranfield University where she established a national FCI test centre, National Highways, the DfT, the HSE and the RAC Foundation where she was a member of the board working on the business case for a multi-disciplinary Road Collision Investigation Branch.
Frances lives in Huddersfield with her husband, twin daughters, father-in-law and various pets. Away from work she is a keen scuba diver and wild camper, loves cooking, travelling and anything involving speed / heights and/or aviation – having been a keen skydiver prior to having her twins and having previously been a motorcyclist.
Haydn Vernals, Director at Sevenairs Consulting Ltd – ‘Human issues and Road safety’
The talk is based around human factors that road safety auditors should have an awareness around, in particular around how ability changes with age, how tiredness can be an influence in collisions and how various mobility impairments influence how people may use the road network. The key message is that not all users will have the same view of the road network as the designer.
Haydn will be providing an insight into RSA problems linked to human issues, including: eye sight as drivers get older; cognitive load with complex junctions; driver fatigue and mobility. impairments
Haydn is Director at Sevenairs Consulting Ltd - Independent Specialist in Traffic Engineering, Road Safety and Safety Risk Assessment. Haydn has a broad experience in traffic, transportation and highway engineering design.
Direct experience in stakeholder consultation, highway geometry, early stage costings, development of project concepts, non-motorised modes (GG 142), the analysis of casualties, road safety audits (GG 119), safety risk assessment (GG 104), traffic regulations, design of casualty reduction projects, local policy, traffic signs and road makings.
Haydn has experience also with intelligent transport systems, specification, highway maintenance, network management, transport planning, highway development control, travel planning and planning applications.
Philippa Simpson, Qualified Solicitor at Horwich Cohen Coghlan (HCC) – ‘A general overview of Road Collision Investigation from a lawyer’s perspective’
The presentation will give a general overview from a lawyer’s perspective then I’ll Philippa use a case study as that’s the best way to highlight what client’s face and what we do to help them.
Philippa qualified as a solicitor in 1997 and has specialised in the field of Personal Injury ever since. She is a member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), and has a special interest in high value and complex injury claims involving: head and brain injuries; erious Orthopaedic injuries; chronic and Regional Pain syndromes and fibromyalgia.
Philippa is a member of the Major Trauma and Serious Injury team at Horwich Cohen Coghlan Solicitors, and from an early stage in any Major Trauma case she and her colleagues work to identify and establish a client’s needs, and then take steps to ensure they get the treatment and rehabilitation they need.
Philippa makes sure that she is available for seriously injured clients and family members at all times, and where appropriate she will visit them at hospital and/or in their own home. She knows that seriously injured clients worry about the future for both them and their families, and does everything she can to give them peace of mind and ensure that their future needs are catered for.
In her 20 year career of working with injured clients, Philippa has developed relationships with leading barristers and a network of highly respected independent experts across the country, and their input is vital to ensuring delivery of outstanding service and the best possible advice.
Philippa cares passionately about her clients, and is committed to supporting them wherever possible in addition to providing expert technical legal advice."
Eric Hill, Principal Engineer at Sweco UK Ltd ‘Road Safety Audit Compliance – Getting the processes right’
The talk looks at common issues relating to road safety audits processes and reports which can deem them as not in accordance with standard and legal consequences arising from this.
Eric is a road safety engineer with Sweco UK Ltd based in Edinburgh and is currently the Vice Chairman of the Society of Road Safety Auditors.
Eric has over 30 years’ experience of highway, traffic and road safety engineering in both public and private sectors across the United Kingdom and Ireland. His interest and knowledge in road safety has been accompanied by his involvement with the Institute of Advanced Motorists since 1996 holding posts as Group and Regional Chair and actively involved in preparing candidates for the advanced driving test.
Eric has also been a Special Constable with Police Scotland for over 20 years, 10 years of this with the Roads Policing.
Away from these activities he enjoys sailing, road trips and spending time with family.
Dennis Symons, Independent/Retired Principal Engineer – Road Safety, and current SoRSA Chair
Den has recently retired from his position as Principal Engineer – Road Safety with National Highways (September 2022). Although retired, Den remains available as an Independent Auditor and continues undertaking Road Safety Audits on a Ad-Hoc basis. This ensures he can maintain my qualifications for the foreseeable future.
Joining the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary in May 1977 and with 30 years of varied Police experience, retiring in May 2007. In February 1991, Den was posted to the Exeter Traffic Department and specialised in dealing with major collisions. In April 2001, Den was transferred within the Traffic Department to the role of Road Casualty Reduction Officer. The prime function for this role was to have a strategic overview of Traffic Management and Road Safety issues and to pursue an intelligence led partnership approach to casualty/collision reduction.
Following on, in June 2007, Den joined the Road Safety Team of EM Highway Services Limited (formally AccordMP) in the role of Road Safety Engineer. There his responsibilities included undertaking scheme studies, with a particular emphasis on safety schemes, and participating in Road Safety Audits at all stages. In April 2014, Den was promoted to Principal Road Safety Engineer. The company were then taken over by Kier in 2015.
Den has been successful in attaining Fellow status with the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT), Fellow of the Society of Road Safety Auditors (SoRSA) and Fellow of the Institute of Highway Engineers (IHE), he is also on the IHE Registered Road Safety Auditor (RegRSA (IHE)). In November 2012, Den was registered with the Engineering Council for Engineering Technician (EngTech) and attained the HA Certificate of Competency for Road Safety Audits.
His work involved undertaking scheme studies, with a particular emphasis on safety schemes, and participating in numerous road safety audits. In respect of the latter, he has been fully approved by the National Highways (formally Highways England) as Team Leader under GG 119 (formally HD19/15) and had overall responsibility for managing the Road Safety Audits that were scheduled for the South West Region.
In July 2017, as part of the amalgamation of the Highways England Trunk Road Network for Area 1 & Area 2, Den was part of the TUPE process and commenced a new role as Principal Engineer – Road Safety with National Highways.
Overall, Den has over 30 years of highways, traffic, and road safety auditing experience, including involvement in over 850 Road Safety Audits.
Got a question?
t: +44 (0)20 7336 1555
e: info@ciht.org.uk