ARTIFICIAL intelligence (AI) could be
used in the battle to reduce dangerous
driving and crashes in Bradford, coun-
cillors were told, writes Chris Young.
Data from more modern vehicles could
help predict driver behaviour and map
out potential accident “hotspots” – mak-
ing road safety policies more proactive
than reactive.
The claims were made at a meeting of
Bradford council’s corporate scrutiny
committee, where members were given
an update on road safety in the district.
Councillors heard that in the 12 months
leading up to August 2024, there was a
slight decrease in the number of people
injured on Bradford’s roads – down from
1,455 in 2023 to 1,330 in 2024.
But in the same period, there was an
increase in the number of people killed or
seriously injured (including broken
bones). This figure rose from 334 to 346.
There were 10 fatalities in this
12-month period.
A report to members said pedestrians
were “highly represented” in the killed
and seriously injured figures, accounting
for 18.7 per cent of the total number.
In addition, the number of casualties
who were passengers in vehicles has
been steadily rising. In 2017 to 2019, the
average number of passengers killed or
seriously injured each year in Bradford
was 87. Last year, that figure had doubled
to 174.
Members were told that the council
and West Yorkshire Police were involved
in efforts to try and reduce crashes and
casualty rates, but that work on certain
areas was often in response to a crash.
Highways officer Miguel D’Souza said:
“We’re moving into a world where we
could use AI to predict where traffic inci-
dents might happen.
“It could help us be more proactive,
look at where accidents could happen
rather than where they have happened.
“Emerging technology is a bit better at
identifying potential crash hotspots.”
In recent years, advances in AI have
been used globally to create a number of
systems that can predict trends in areas
from finance to disease outbreak.
There has been work internationally to
use date ranging from traffic patterns,
satellite data and crash reports to gener-
ate algorithms that can tell where car
crashes are most likely to take place.
D’Souza told the committee that al-
though some of the work already being
done on Bradford’s roads was helping
prevent accident levels from rising, fig-
ures have remained steady rather than
dropping by any great rate. AI could be a
way to finally bring the figures down.
He said: “We need to look at things
more intelligently, have a deeper dive in-
to who is causing crashes and in what ar-
eas. AI will help us with that data.”
Ilkley councillor Andrew Loy (Cons)
asked for more detail on how AI could
help improve road safety.
D’Souza said: “Information is often
collected by manufacturers and sold on
to other companies. This gives us better
road data than we have had previously.
“You also look at pedestrian accidents
and casualty figures. It gives us a narrative
on how road users are behaving.
“You can look at speeds of different
road users and it gives you a better idea of
what speeds people are doing on differ-
ent roads without having to go out to each
location. But this is all relying on technol-
ogy in cars – so this data won’t capture
older vehicles. But as we move to more
modern vehicles on the road, the data
becomes more useable.”
He said this information, with data from
speed cameras, could be used by software
to predict where accidents could happen,
as well as driver behaviour patterns. (Lo-
cal Democracy Reporting Service)
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COUNCIL TOLD ALGORITHMS CAN HELP REVEAL DRIVER BEHAVIOUR AND REDUCE ACCIDENTS
Using AI to predict crash hotspots
could make Bradford roads safer
MORE than one in three chil-
dren in Leicester are living in
poverty, statistics from the
Department for Work and
Pensions have revealed, writes
Tess Rushin.
The city was the 11th worst
local authority area in the UK,
with 39.5 per cent of under
16s meeting the criteria in
2023-24. This has increased
from 38.7 per cent in the pre-
vious year.
Across the UK, the local au-
thority ranked worst was Pen-
dle, in Lancashire, which had
a child poverty rate of 44.6 per
cent It was followed by Brad-
ford at 44.2 per cent and Old-
ham at 42.9 per cent.
Relative low income is de-
fined as any family claiming
child benefit and at least one
other household benefit (such
as universal credit, tax credits
or housing benefit) at any
point in the financial year, the
Press Association (PA) reports.
A Leicester City Council
spokesperson said the author-
ity was determined to work
closely with partners to make
sure people’s lives in Leicester
were not blighted by poverty.
They said: “There’s a huge
amount of work going on lo-
cally to help tackle what is sig-
nificant issue, not just in
Leicester, but in all UK cities.
“This includes a range of
support such as the promo-
tion of free school meals, debt
and budgeting advice, and
help to ensure that people are
receiving the benefits they are
entitled to.”
Across the UK, the number
of children living in poverty
reached a record high in the
year to March 2024, with 4.45
million children estimated to
be in households in relative
low income. This latest figure
is the highest since compara-
ble records for the UK began
in 2002-2003, PA said.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves
has insisted the government’s
plans to support people into
work “will result in more peo-
ple having fulfilling careers
paying decent wages and, of
course, that’s the best way to
lift families out of poverty”.
However, the government’s
own impact assessment, publi-
shed last month, estimated wel-
fare reforms could see 250,000
more people, including 50,000
children, fall into poverty by
2029-2030. (Local Democracy
Reporting Service)
COVENTRY libraries
are likely to move to
new buildings where
they will have fewer re-
sources available,
writes Ellie Brown.
Plans to relocate li-
braries in Bell Green,
Coundon and Holb-
rooks are set to be rub-
ber-stamped by coun-
cillors later this month.
The move comes de-
spite a plea by hun-
dreds of people to not
move the services in
petitions earlier this
year. Most surveyed by
the council on the
plans believed it would
have a negative impact,
according to new
council papers.
Officials also found
the changes will overall
have a “potentially
negative” overall im-
pact. Children, the el-
derly and disabled
people could be hit
hardest by libraries
moving further away,
they wrote in an equal-
ity impact assessment.
Officers confirmed
that libraries will have
fewer books and com-
puters available after
the move. But they
claimed that the im-
pact of this will be re-
duced somewhat.
Most of the comput-
ers are not used at the
moment, stock will ro-
tate and the new build-
ings will be within
three miles of the old
ones, they said. Some
people will not have as
far to travel and the li-
braries will still run
events and activities.
Scrutiny councillors
will have the chance to
ask questions on the
move at a meeting
scheduled for Thurs-
day (10), after Eastern
Eye went to print on
Tuesday (8). Cabinet
members will then be
asked to approve the
plans at a meeting next
Tuesday (15).
If they give the bid
their backing, plans for
the libraries will start
their “first phase” in
autumn this year.
As well as the librar-
ies, the council is set to
move adult social care
offices and its support-
ing families team to
other council build-
ings. (Local Democracy
Reporting Service)
Concern over high child poverty rates in Leicester
Coventry libraries set to move
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE county
council has had more foster car-
ers joining the service than leav-
ing for the first time since before
the Covid-19 pandemic, writes
Lauren Monaghan.
In the past six months, fewer
foster carers left the council, with
a rise in applications and appro-
vals. It has resulted in an increase
in foster carers in March 2025 –
the first rise since before the
pandemic, the authority said.
Nottinghamshire county
council, Nottingham city council,
Derbyshire county council and
Derby city council are currently
running a joint campaign to re-
cruit more foster carers for the
local authorities.
Its new name is ‘Foster for
East Midlands Councils’. It was
originally launched in March
2024, with money coming from
the four member councils and
the Department for Education.
An update on the project was
discussed in Nottinghamshire
county council’s corporate par-
enting panel last Tuesday (1).
The meeting was told the
scheme will now be funded for
the next year until March 2026.
Councillor Mike Introna (Con)
said efforts to increase fostering
in the county are “going in the
right direction”.
He said: “[We’ve] got a consid-
erably higher number of people
across hurdles to become foster
parents”, and wondered if more
could be done to support foster
carers and encourage others to
sign up to the service.
“Stuff like free bus travel, pos-
sible assistance with healthcare,
maybe long service payments, or
accrue a payment each year
you’re a foster carer,” he said.
Councillor Anne Callaghan
(Lab) said: “How can we incenti-
vise [fostering]? It might be looking
at increasing pay, looking at fur-
ther training, a pension scheme.”
As of last Thursday (3), there
were 187 foster carers working
for the council’s service com-
pared to 194 this time last year,
but there were also 59 fewer
looked after children in the
council’s care with 900 currently.
On the importance of children
in care being cared for in a home
environment, Callaghan said:
“We do have quite a lot of chil-
dren in care, we don’t want them
out of area either, we want them
close to home.
“For whatever reason family
relationships broke down, these
children have come into care
and they still need to have their
local links. Some of them still
need to attend the school their
friends are, that’s their one con-
stant in their life sometimes and
it’s really important.” (Local De-
mocracy Reporting Service)
East Midlands recruitment drive results in more foster carers joining the service
TRAFFIC TRENDS: Pedestrians make up a large
part of the number of those killed or seriously
injured on Bradford’s roads, figures show
REFORM RISK: There is a
range of support available
to help people, a city
council spokesperson said
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