Highways England is calling on supply chain partners to join it in efforts to reduce the number of people taking their own lives on motorways and major A roads.

 

It has launched a suicide prevention strategy that looks to move away from focusing primarily on intervening at the time of an attempted suicide, and towards more proactive prevention activities.

 

It comes following the launch of a recent report by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, which estimates that there are around 50 deaths each year by suicide on UK roads, and many more attempted suicides.

 

Highways England’s strategy includes establishing a suicide prevention working group that will collaborate with charities, statutory bodies and academics to identify, develop and implement interventions.

 

The organisation will also aim to improve data about suicide related incidents on its network and train staff to offer support to people who may be considering taking their own life. Furthermore it will look to ensure that investments in road network improvements incorporate suicide prevention measures where necessary.

 

Highways England’s head of road safety Richard Leonard said: “Our vision is that no one attempts to take their own life on our roads.” He added: “By sharing knowledge and best practice across sectors, a real difference can be made to road safety and the surrounding communities.”

 

PACTS policy officer Katy Harrison – the author of its recent report – said: “Every incident of suicide on UK roads impacts on other road users and potentially puts their lives at risk. Incidents create delays on the network and the associated costs have serious repercussions for the UK economy. More importantly, behind every statistic is an individual and there is likely to be a family and a community devastated by their loss.”

 

She pointed out that there is currently no official record of the number of suicides and attempted suicides taking place on UK roads, and no central database for recording this information.

 

In contrast the rail sector has a better understanding of the issue and has developed a cross industry suicide prevention programme, which last year prevented an estimated 1811 people from taking their lives.

 

The PACTS report calls on the Government to provide leadership on road related suicide by recognising the issue, clarifying Ministerial responsibilities and providing guidance.

 

It also urges stronger cross sector collaboration and recommends improvements to incident reporting systems including STATS19 so that suicides can be clearly identified. This data could then form a national database, it says.