AR / Birmingham South Road Safety Partnership Sub-Group
Working in partnership –
Understanding the roles, responsibilities and toolkits of
the BCC District Engineer Teams
Birmingham South Road Safety Partnership Sub-Group
Officer/engineer roles and responsibilities:
Within a road safety context the engineer teams are responsible for designing and planning local changes to the
highway, which can reduce the risk of road traffic accidents taking place. This can be through “softer” measures
designed to educate road users, such as signage or “harder” measures which will change the road layout, such as
chicanes or crossings.
In order to inform this work, the teams are also able to gather evidence and intelligence, which can be made available
to partners such as West Midlands Police and West Midlands Fire Service. This includes data for all accidents report to
the Police, speeding data captured by Vehicle Activated Signs (VAS), school travel plans, as well as specific speeding and
traffic surveys.
The teams do not hold a budget and undertake projects and work through two main means:


BCC Capital Budget – in response to concerns, which involve serious or fatal accidents on the highway a
proposal and business case can be developed by the teams and submitted to BCC Highways for consideration
and budget approval.
Local funding and commissioning – anyone can commission the engineers to undertake work if there is an
available budget. This includes Councillors (e.g. Community Chest) and schools in particular. This work tends
to include road markings or signage, for instance.
Officer/engineer names and contact details:
District
Name
Contact Details
Base
Selly Oak
District
Sajid Khan (Senior Service
Manager – Engineer)
sajid.khan@birmingham.gov.uk
Selly Oak District Office, 1459
Pershore Road, Stirchley, B30 2JL
Steve Bond (Technical
Officer)
steve.bond@birmingham.gov.uk
Glenn Smith (Senior
Service Manager –
Engineer)
glenn.smith@birmingham.gov.uk
Andy Dimmock (District
Engineer)
andy.dimmock@birmingham.gov.uk
Northfield
District
0121 464 2780
0121 303 9396
0121 303 1805
0121 303 1804
97 Reabrook Road, Northfield,
B31 4EP
AR / Birmingham South Road Safety Partnership Sub-Group
Edgbaston
District
Marie Brown (District
Engineer)
marie.brown@birmingham.gov.uk
Harborne West, 326 High Street,
Harborne, B17 9PU
0121 303 5386
The toolkit:
Item
Intervention/
activity
Brief detail
Potential
applications
Restrictions on
use
Funding
required
Process
involved
Data and
intelligence
School Travel
Plans
Collated by schools
and particularly
useful for primary
school related
issues. Contain
various data such as
transport surveys
with parents and
children
Identifying tactics
and opportunities
to address school
parking
N/A
N/A
Contact officers
Spectrum –
accident data
analysis
Database showing
details of all
accidents reported
to the Police.
Applicable to
approximately 40%
of all accidents on
the highway
Identifying
evidence and
scale/scope of road
safety concerns
Applies only to
accidents reported
to the Police
N/A
Contact officers
Speeding data –
Vehicle
Activated Signs
Signs, which flash
up with warnings to
drivers if speeding,
e.g. reminder of 30,
if driving over limit.
These electronic
signs also capture
details for all
journeys passing
through sign laser,
including speed,
date, time
Identifying the
scale and nature of
a potential
speeding concern –
average speed, %
driving above
speed limit;
Identifying days
and times for
enforcement
and/or driver
education
exercises;
Recommended that
signs are in place
for up to 3 months
maximum
Data drawn down
systematically in
Northfield District,
but equipment
pending for Selly
Oak and Edgbaston
to enable this;
Some signs are
limited to the
Wards where they
have been bought
At least £100 to
install/de-install
signs; £3,300 per
new sign
Contact officers for
current locations
and provision per
Ward, as well as to
request data from
officers; Liaison
with officers and
Councillors re. sign
locations and
deployment;
Funding to
commission sign
deployment
Speed/traffic
survey
Strips/”speeding
loops” issued across
the road to identify
speeds of cars
passing through a
section of road
Identifying the
scale and nature of
potential speeding
concerns
Not immediately
available to BCC,
requiring advanced
booking; Available
often for only one
week at a time
Up to £600 per
deployment
Contact officers
Signage
Signs to inform and
educate drivers, e.g.
about speed limits,
hazards such as
children crossing
Various – outside
schools, at
speeding locations
or road traffic
accident locations
Evidence of need
required for any
change to highway;
Can only be a
government
approved sign
Approximately
£250 per sign
(depending on
size, design) for
provision and
installation;
Contact officers;
evidence of need
and funds required
to commission
“Soft”
measures
AR / Birmingham South Road Safety Partnership Sub-Group
“Hard”
measures
design (see
engineers for
details)
Maintenance
cost of £20 per
year for 30 years
Road-markings
Various roadmarkings to advise
drivers about traffic
regulations in place
Small extensions or
renewal of existing
road markings; Zigzags outside
schools
New roadmarkings cannot
be made without a
“Traffic Regulation
Order”, which
requires formal
consultation with
local communities
Capital costs for
the project (e.g.
£500 per day);
Revenue costs
for 30 years;
Traffic
Regulation Order
costs of £15K
Contact officers;
evidence of need
and funds required
to commission
Pedestrian
crossings
Various crossings
available for
consideration such
as zebra, pelican,
toucan
Locations whether
there is a history of
serious or fatal
traffic accidents OR
sufficient speeding
data to evidence
increased risk of
serious or fatal
traffic accidents
Evidence required
only applicable to
approximately 5%
of all sites
nominated to
Engineers;
Restrictions on
their use on “Blue
Emergency
Routes”, which are
routes designated
for emergency
vehicle access such
as paramedics, fire
engines, Police cars
Various capital
costs depending
on item, e.g.
Zebra crossing at
£25-30K, Pelican
crossing at £80K;
30 year revenue
costs, e.g.
Pelican at
£1,600/year;
Zebra at
£60/year
Contact officers;
Business case
needed (for all
Highways
locations)
referencing
accident data at
location
(particularly fatal
or serious) and/or
risk of accidents
taking place (e.g.
based on speeding
data) compared to
cost-benefit
analysis; Business
case submission to
Transport Strategy
Groups in BCC
Highways for
consideration and
approval
Traffic calming
measures
Various measures
available and
designed on
bespoke basis
according to the
analysis and options
for the particular
location. Examples
include speed
bumps, chicanes
Locations whether
there is a history of
serious or fatal
traffic accidents OR
sufficient speeding
data to evidence
increased risk of
serious or fatal
traffic accidents
Evidence required
only applicable to
approximately 5%
of all sites
nominated to
Engineers;
Restrictions on
their use on “Blue
Emergency
Routes”, which are
routes designated
for emergency
vehicle access such
as paramedics, fire
engines, Police cars
Various e.g. redesign of a
junction can cost
£100K plus;
chicane can cost
£80K plus; 30
year revenue/
maintenance
costs
Contact officers;
Business case
needed (for all
Highways
locations)
referencing
accident data at
location
(particularly fatal
or serious) and/or
risk of accidents
taking place (e.g.
based on speeding
data) compared to
cost-benefit
analysis; Business
case submission to
Transport Strategy
Groups in BCC
Highways for
consideration and
approval
AR / Birmingham South Road Safety Partnership Sub-Group
Process and evidence requirement for traffic calming measures on the public highway:
1.
Review of existing accident data to identify accidents where an intervention or control measure, which if
introduced might prevent similar accidents in the future.
2.
Undertake cost-benefit analysis for the proposal, which considers the (capital) costs of the scheme/measure(s)
compared to the economic benefits from them. The economic benefits are drawn from the “Transport
Analysis Guidance” and concern the severity of an accident:
a. Fatal accident - £1,730, 851
b. Serious accident - £196,589
c. Slight accident - £20,245
Where the cost of the scheme/measure(s) is less than the total cost of accidents, which have previously taken
place (or there is strong evidence to suggest might take place) the chances of the scheme/measure(s) being
approved increases.
3.
Proposal submitted to BCC Highways Transportation Strategy Sub-Group (panel for initial consideration and
decision) and then BCC Highways Transport Strategy Group for a final decision.