Yesterday (17th November) saw the national launch of Brake’s latest campaign to draw awareness to the dangers of not paying attention on the roads and reduce road deaths across the country.
This year’s theme for Road Safety Week is look out for each other and is focussing on showing road users the importance of cutting down distractions when driving and encouraging a better relationship between all kinds of road users.
To mark the start of the week, several events took place around the country including Marble Arch with Transport for London (TfL), York, Media City in Manchester, Portsmouth, Edinburgh and Sunderland. Many MPs tweeted pictures of themselves pledging their support to the initiative with posters and a series of hand-held thought bubbles bearing messages such as “I’ll look out for people on foot & bike” and “All drivers need regular eye tests to look out for each other”.
Police forces got involved in the campaign by going on patrol looking for motorists using their mobiles while driving, and tweeting statistics about how many people were caught doing this last month. Some also posted pictures of their cars and stations with Road Safety Week posters.
A dedicated hashtag #LookOutForEachOther has been used on social media and all sorts of road users, including hauliers and cycling organisations, have been using it to get behind the campaign. Nationally, Specsavers and Kwik Fit have run competitions to get children to design posters to display in their stores and offering free tyre and brake checks respectively. And lots of smaller companies, schools, garages and fire stations have done their bit locally by sending messages about the initiative or displaying billboards and posters to show their support.
Among the social media posts were a number illustrating the reasons why Road Safety Week is needed. Messages of condolence and pictures of road fatalities were put up by individuals and organisations with personal accounts and stories about the devastating affects road accidents can have, as well as poignant statistics about the facts behind the campaign.
Up to five people are killed every day and over sixty people are injured on Britain’s roads due to excessive speed or not driving with care and attention. Pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders account for more than half of these casualties.
Local newspapers also carried stories about local events and initiatives around the campaign. In Cumbria, children dressed in brightly coloured clothes on their walk to school to highlight the importance of being seen on the roads, and in Kent extra special constable patrols took to the streets to educate motorists on the dangers of speeding. In Edinburgh, meanwhile, the start of Road Safety week coincided with a campaign to get the drink driving limit reduced before Christmas.
Brake – the charity behind Road Safety Week – is the only organisation in the country which specifically deals with road safety and runs the campaign every year with a different theme each time.
Further information on Road Safety Week can be found at www.roadsafetyweek.org. You can also follow @Brakecharity on Twitter and the #LookOutForEachOther hashtag.