In the UK speeding is still a major problem. It causes needless crashes, untold suffering and stops people living safe and healthy lives.
Driving is unpredictable and if something unexpected happens on the road ahead – such as a child stepping out from between parked cars – it is a driver’s speed that will determine whether they can stop in time and, if they can’t stop, how hard they will hit.
Yet newer vehicles are more powerful than ever before and reach high speeds quickly. Driving fast is glamorised and often encouraged by programmes and adverts that worship the cult of the car. We all live busy lives and there is a temptation to speed up in the hope of saving time, where in fact we could be costing lives.
That is why we are encouraging everyone to Speed Down Save Lives for Road Safety Week 2017 (20-26 November).
We can all play our part in raising awareness about the dangers of driving too fast and this year's campaign will focus on:
- speed causes deaths and serious injuries on our roads
- rural roads are not race tracks
- 20mph is the only safe speed in heavily built-up areas used by pedestrians and cyclists
- going slow = stopping in time
- speed is scary and noisy. It stops communities being enjoyable places for children and families to walk, talk and play
- speed cameras work. They save lives.
- Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) is an important development that is likely to be fitted to all vehicles in the future
Register now to be part of Road Safety Week 2017 and get a free electronic action pack. Take part in the Week by promoting our Speed Down Save Lives theme, or focusing on any other road safety issue that is important to you.
A few facts on why our theme is important:
- Breaking the speed limit or travelling too fast for conditions is recorded by police at crash scenes as a contributory factor in one in four (23%) fatal crashes in Great Britain [1].
- Drivers with one speeding violation annually are twice as likely to crash as those with none [2].
- A recent Brake survey found that four in 10 (40%) UK drivers admitted they sometimes drive at 30mph in 20mph zones [3].
Article source: www.roadsafetyweek.org.uk/our-theme
[1] Reported Road Casualties Great Britain 2015, Reported Road Casualties Great Britain: Annual Report 2016, Department for Transport, 2016, table RAS50008
[2] Crash involvement of motor vehicles in relationship to the number and severity of traffic offenses, SWOV, 2013
[3] Report on safe driving: speed, Brake, 2016
