Road Safety

Engineering

Road Safety Schemes

Local engineering schemes can provide excellent value for money in places with existing road injury problems and are designed to address recorded collisions where people are being injured on a regular basis.

By focusing on sites and areas with poor accident records, road safety engineers concentrate their efforts on places where it is known that people are being killed or injured rather than on perceived risks and that the site or area has a treatable problem.

Road casualty data provided by West Midlands Police is used to determine the safety engineering programme for the following financial year. Analysis is looked at over a 3 and 5 year historical period to identify trends and commonalities and particular emphasis is placed on those sites where there are injuries of a serious nature, or those involving the most vulnerable road users such as children and pedestrians.

Road casualty reduction schemes involves measures designed to reduce the number and severity of accidents based on an existing known pattern.

Active Travel

Active travel is using physically active means for everyday journeys, such as walking and cycling.

The Government have set a vision for half of short journeys in towns and cities to be walked, wheeled or cycled by 2030 and provided funding to Local Authorities to change and improve their road infrastructure to assist in this vision.

The advantages of active travel include increased fitness, cheaper journeys, reduced congestion and wide scale environmental benefits.

Sandwell has secured funding from the Government to introduce a number of large-scale active travel schemes over the next 4 years. The schemes being developed are not just about making local areas better, healthier and greener places for people to live, but to also allow people to walk and cycle in a much safer environment.

Active travel improvements aim to:

make walking and cycling to work, education and leisure activities more attractive
improve health and wellbeing by offering eco-friendly travel choices
broaden travel choices by offering safe, quick and easy walking and cycling options, particularly for short journeys
support zero emission journeys and reduce reliance on car travel.

2025 / 2026 Schemes:

Location	Detail
ROAD SAFETY SCHEMES
Basons Lane / Warley Road Junction, Oldbury	Implementation of Traffic Signals
Grange Road, Cradley Heath	One-Way System
Hagley Road, Oldbury	Average Speed Enforcement Cameras
Lower City Road, Tividale	Road Safety Improvement Scheme
Powis Avenue / Cupfields Avenue, Tipton	Road Safety Improvement Scheme
Silvertrees Estate, Tipton	New 20mph Zone
ACTIVE TRAVEL SCHEMES
A461 Peake Drive to Great Bridge, Tipton	New Segregated Cycle Lanes and Pedestrian Crossings
Blackheath Town Centre	Bus Interchange and Public Realm
Cradley Heath Town Centre	Cycle and Pedestrian Infrastructure Improvements Rowley Regis Connected Phase 3
High Street to Roebuck Lane, West Bromwich	Segregated Cycle Lanes West Bromwich Connected Phase 2
Oldbury Ringway, Oldbury	Segregated Cycle Paths and Crossing Facilities Rowley Regis Connected Phase 2
TOWN CENTRE LEVELLING UP IMPROVEMENTS
Owen Street, Tipton	Tipton Town Centre Regeneration Road Safety Improvements and Public Realm
Union Street, Wednesbury	Wednesbury Town Centre Improvements Public Realm and Urban Greening

2024 / 2025 (Quarter 4) Completed Schemes:

Location	Detail
ROAD SAFETY SCHEMES
Perry Hill Road, Oldbury	Implementation of a Puffin Crossing Facility – Child Safety Schemes (Safer Routes to School Fund)
Waterfall Lane, Cradley Heath	Implementation of a Zebra Crossing Facility – Child Safety Schemes (Safer Routes to School Fund)
ACTIVE TRAVEL SCHEMES
Moor Lane, Rowley Regis	A New Footpath Rowley Regis Connected Phase 1

2023 / 2024 Completed Schemes:

Location	Detail
A4030 Tollhouse Way to Hagley Road West, Smethwick	New pedestrian crossings, reduced speed limits and cycle infrastructure improvements Safer Roads Fund 3 DfT Grant
Downing Street / Cornwall Road / Mornington Road Junction, Smethwick	New traffic signal installation
Ferndale Avenue, Great Barr	18-month pilot project of closing off road to vehicular traffic at the Ferndale Avenue entrance to Ferndale Primary School at restricted times, to improve safety environment for children and to help encourage walking to school.
Hallens Drive, Wednesbury	Installation of permanent speed cushions to deter road racing where road casualties had been recorded. Installed in partnership with West Midlands Police. Replaced temporary bolt down cushions.
Hobs Road, Wednesbury	Installation of new zebra crossing outside of Wood Green Primary School to aid children and parents walking to and from school, following the retirement of School Crossing Patrol point.
Lightwoods Hill, Old Warley	Installation of Vehicle Activated electronic Speed Signs (VASS) and new 20mph limit to reduce vehicle speeds and improve safety environment following petition and community concerns.
Londonderry Lane, Smethwick	Final phase of road safety and sustainable travel improvements to compliment the new Sandwell Aquatics Centre.
Manor House Road, Wednesbury	Installation of new controlled pedestrian crossing outside of St Mary’s Primary School to aid children and parents walking to and from school, following the retirement of school crossing patrol point.
Melbourne Road, Smethwick	Installation of dropped kerbs and tactile paving to assist visually impaired road users.
Oakham Road, Tividale	Updated electronic signage, new central refuges, and associated road markings to help tackle concerns raised regarding speeding vehicles and a number of loss of control accidents.
Tollhouse Way – Crockett’s Lane to Soho Street, Smethwick	Segregated Cycle Lanes Smethwick Connected - Phase 4
Tollhouse Way – Rolfe Street to Cross Street, Smethwick	Re-appropriation of road space on Tollhouse Way between Rolfe Street and Cross Street, to the next phase of a 2 way segregated route, as part of a wider scope of work which will eventually link Oldbury Town Centre to the New Hospital and Birmingham City Centre beyond. Smethwick Connected - Phase 3
Vehicle Activated Speed Sign (VASS) Project	Installation of a number of electronic speed activated warning signs at various locations in the borough, in response to community concerns over speeding vehicles. Includes: Galton Road, Smethwick Castle Road East, Old Warley Dial Lane, West Bromwich Perry Hill Road, Oldbury St Pauls Road and West Park Road, Smethwick
Wednesbury Town Centre Heritage Action Zone and Active Travel Improvements	A combined scheme to reinstall the market to Market Square in the heritage area of Wednesbury Town Centre. Improved wider safer areas for pedestrians, improved pedestrian crossings, speed limit reduction, traffic calming, segregated cycle facilities and reduced vehicle dominance in the busy town centre.
Windmill Lane, Smethwick	Installation of new controlled pedestrian crossing between Trafalgar Road and Ballot Street to aid children and parents walking to and from St Matthews CofE Primary school and the practitioners at the Jamia Masjid Mosque.
Wood Green Road / Myvod Road, Wednesbury	Add Pedestrian Facilities to Existing Traffic Signal Junction
Yew Tree Estate, West Bromwich	Traffic calming across the whole estate, including additional road safety improvements around Yew Tree Primary School

Get in touch

If you require road safety input in to any community events or require help or advice, please email Road_Safety@sandwell.gov.uk. For any other road safety concerns on the highway, log onto My Sandwell or call 0121 368 1177.