This week sees the start of national Road Safety Week, an event that runs from 19th -25th November and is aimed at generating community awareness of the dangers of the roads. Each year Brake – the organisation behind Road Safety Week - picks a theme and this year it’s ‘Slower speeds = Happy People.’ The campaign will call on drivers to slow their speeds to around 20mph in built up areas and around key hotspots such as schools, homes and shops, so those in the local community can walk and cycle more - whether to get to work or school, for pleasure, or as a way of introducing more exercise in a daily routine.
The slower speeds theme chosen this year is an apt one - accidents on the road occur for many reasons and the top two causes of accidents tend to be drivers not looking properly or losing control of the vehicle. Speed plays a part in both these situations, as not looking properly and losing control have much more serious consequences if a car is travelling at speed than if it is going at around 20mph. The third and fourth most ‘common’ causes of accidents tend to be a driver going too fast for the road conditions and travelling faster than the speed limit – all facts that provide additional support for this years Road Safety Week slower speeds campaign.
As well as focusing on drivers, the campaign is appealing to the government to provide local authorities with funding that will enable them to introduce 20mph limits. The campaign will also focus on pressing for lower speeds on rural roads, opposing the proposed raise in the speed limit on motorways and highlighting other measures to protect pedestrians and those travelling around on bikes.
Road Safety Week is very much an event that is aimed at getting the local community involved. Brake is encouraging local community groups, schools, and other organisations to take part in a series of events during the week to help spread awareness of road safety, and of the changes that need to be made to bring down the number of accidents suffered by road and pavement users who are not travelling in cars. At Stephensons, we have participated in Road Safety Week for several years, and have previously gone into primary schools, high schools and colleges to give talks on how to keep safe while travelling to and from school and college. This year Stephensons wanted to do something completely different, so we asked Year 5 students at Hazlehurst Community Primary School in Ramsbottom to produce and edit short films/adverts on Road Safety. The students were split into teams and a number of adverts were made - all the films were of a very high standard making it very difficult to choose. The ‘Best film' was judged by the head of our Personal Injury department.
As well as raising awareness, the Road Safety Week campaign is also aimed at teaching practical skills that can be used in all sorts of situations. Road safety skills for pedestrians will be part of the campaign in schools, as well as teaching varying levels of first aid that can be applied and may be able to assist in a situation where a minor road traffic accident has occurred. Even though many accidents can’t be anticipated, there are preventative steps that we all can take to - as Brake puts it - ‘stop the carnage’ on our roads. Getting involved in Road Safety Week this week is a great start.