The first Society of Road Safety Auditor’s (SoRSA) conference to be held in Scotland took place in Perth earlier this autumn and was deemed a great success.
Supported by Trunk Road Operating Company BEAR Scotland, the one day event served as an opportunity for industry professionals to share ideas and bring together a number of aspects involved in developing road safety plans, strategies and their delivery to reduce road casualties.
SoRSA, a branch of The Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT), hosted the event at the AK Bell Library in Perth which was attended by around 60 delegates from across the industry in Scotland.
Expert speakers from Transport Scotland, Local Authorities, BEAR Scotland, AECOM, Cycling Scoland and the Institute of Advanced Motorists provided informative discussion regarding a range of topics relating to strategic and local road safety, average speed cameras, road safety policy and auditing.
The day provided the opportunity for members of the industry to improve their knowledge on road safety planning and audit procedures, and how to best achieve the casualty reduction targets set by Scottish Government.
Stuart Kay, Chairman for SoRSA said:
“It was an honour to be invited to what was a double first - the first SoRSA event to be held in Scotland and my first event since becoming Chairman in June.
“My thanks go to BEAR Scotland, particularly Eric Hill and his team for their drive, enthusiasm and efficiency in pulling the event together. The day itself brought together road safety professionals from both the public and private sector with a range of speakers from strategic and local highways authorities.
“If one aspect could be taken from the day it would be collaboration. Not only was this demonstrated via the presentations, where multi-agency approaches are seen as paramount to the success of any initiative, but also during the breaks where delegates were engaged in conversation with both existing and new business acquaintances.
“Overall, the day was a huge success and I look forward to this becoming an annual event."
Stuart Wilson, Development Management and Strategic Road Safety Manager at Transport Scotland, said:
“The recent SoRSA event represents an excellent opportunity for road safety professional to share their experience and further improve the delivery of road safety engineering in Scotland. Each of us has a role in improving safety on Scotland’s roads and events such as this can only be beneficial.”
Eric Hill, Road Safety Senior Engineer for BEAR Scotland and Regional Representative for SoRSA, organised the event. He said:
“We wanted the day to be about bringing different people within the industry in Scotland together with the aim to improve knowledge and understanding of road safety planning and audits, which will ultimately reduce the number of casualties and collisions in Scotland.
“We’ve had a great response and I hope those that attended found the day useful and informative.”
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