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1 Setting the Scene 
In 2000, the UK Government, Scottish Executive and National Assembly for Wales set national casualty reduction targets to cut casualties significantly by 2010. Whilst at the national level the number of casualties in road accidents has fallen in line with the targets, there is a wide variation in the performance in individual local authority areas in Scotland.
Research has recently been carried out to find out why there is such a large variation in the casualty reductions being achieved by local authorities and to identify good practice which may be more widely adopted to help cut casualties across the whole of Scotland.
1.1 Who are the guidelines for?
Many people from a variety of backgrounds are involved in road safety work either professionally, or as elected representatives, and these guidelines have been prepared to help them work more efficiently and effectively. These people will include:
- road engineers
- police officers
- road safety officers ( RSOs)
- transport planners
- health professionals
- teachers and education advisers
- charity managers and workers
- local councillors
- members of other agencies with an interest in road safety including, for example, regeneration partnerships and community safety groups
1.2 What is good practice?
Good practice is a way of working based on a set of key principles with the aim of achieving organisational objectives that are compatible with professionally recognised standards. It builds on past experience to add value to future activities and allows organisations to be innovative, efficient, and effective in the way they carry out their work. Through objective evaluation of service delivery, improvements can be identified and implemented in a planned way.
In particular, good practice allows those committed to it to:
- meet statutory requirements
- focus on clear objectives and targets
- evaluate what they do
- achieve value for money
- learn from their own past experience and that of others
Good practice needs to be set in the context of delivering road safety improvements which meet considerations of best value and, by implication, quality. In achieving this, quality management has been defined as a three stage process often set out simply as:
1. Say what you do
2. Do what you say
3. Prove that you do it
These are the key underlying principles of the guidelines and they are the cornerstones of the planning and implementation processes which form the structure of the guidelines to follow.
1. Say what you do is about effective planning and setting out a clear programme of initiatives based on the identification of problems and the development of responses within the context of best value.
2. Do what you say is about implementing the initiatives efficiently and effectively.
3. Prove that you do it is about monitoring and evaluating the planning and implementation processes.
1.3 How have the guidelines been developed?
These guidelines were developed from an extensive review of road safety activities throughout Scotland. This review included:
- an all-Scotland questionnaire: a detailed self-completion questionnaire issued to all local authorities, police forces, and road safety units within police forces and local authorities. A 100% response was obtained for this survey
- case studies: on the basis of the responses to the all-Scotland questionnaire, six case studies were selected to be representative of local authorities in Scotland in terms of their demography and casualty reductions achieved. Face-to-face interviews were held with road engineers, RSOs, police officers and others to build up a detailed picture of road safety activities
The guidelines are followed by information received during the case studies. Contact names and other details are provided for the key people involved.
1.4 Twelve key elements of good practice
In analysing the information, twelve key elements of good practice were identified, and these will be presented in the guidelines. They are not intended to be prescriptive. Rather, they are intended to:
- set a broad administrative structure in which to plan road safety activities
- offer key examples of good practice
- provide contact details for road safety practitioners associated with the examples of good practice.
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