Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 17
17
Accepted
DfT continues to use and relaunched its 'Think!' campaign for road safety.
Conclusion
We asked DfT if there was more that it could do to promote the changes it had made to improve safety and encourage more people take up cycling. It told us that it recognised that communication was a big part of tackling perceptions and encouraging changes in behaviour. It told us that it was using its long-standing road safety communications campaign, Think!, to communicate changes it had made to the Highway Code.41 This campaign was first run in 2022 when the changes to the Highway Code were first made.42After our evidence session, on 3 August 2023, DfT also relaunched its Think! campaign reminding people of the changes that had been made to the Highway Code which prioritised vulnerable road users.43
Government Response Summary
The government agreed, stating it intends to publish a new road safety strategy to improve safety for vulnerable road users and will explore aligning it with a broader active travel campaign and partner communications. It also highlighted ongoing Think! campaigns that have raised awareness of Highway Code changes.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 4.2 The department intends to publish a new road safety strategy document in due course. This will consider ways in which road safety can be improved for vulnerable road users. The department will explore aligning the publication of this document to a broader campaign that promotes the benefits of active travel. The department will also explore whether communications via local authorities and other delivery partners, such as charitable and stakeholder bodies, can deliver similar messaging. 4.3 The department has previously sought to address safety concerns around active travel by communicating the revisions to The Highway Code to the public. The January 2022 changes to The Highway Code have been communicated via: • a factual awareness-raising campaign in February and March 2022, alerting road users to the changes as they came into effect; and, • a further campaign which ran in summer 2022 and 2023, to help embed the changes and encourage understanding and uptake of the guidance. 4.4 The percentage of road users reporting to know either a little or a lot about the Highway Code changes increased from 36% in January 2022 to 58% in August 2022, with 83% of road users having heard of the changes by August 2022. Going forward, the department will continue to monitor attitudes and behaviours to help evidence the prioritisation of THINK! Campaign activity and the level of future communications investment required.