This week (14-20 November) is Road Safety Week.
Every year, thousands of schools, organisations and communities come together to support the campaign by sharing important road safety messages, remembering people affected by road death and injury, and raising funds for the National Road Victim Service.
With road crashes predicted to climb this year, this Road Safety Week organisers at Brake are urging the public to keep road safety at forefront of their minds beyond 20 November.
“Every 22 minutes someone dies or is seriously injured on UK roads,” says Brake CEO Mary Williams OBE.
“Emergency services do a fantastic job of responding to road crashes and raising awareness of their horror, but they shouldn’t have to – road deaths and serious injuries are appalling tragedies that need to stop. We are urging authorities and the public to prioritise road safety to save lives.
“Road safety cannot be something that we talk about just one week a year. We all need to remain vigilant, and play our part in ensuring safe and healthy mobility for all.”
Candace Miller agrees. The Managing Director of SFJ Awards, a not-for-profit organisation that formally certificates skills and learning, supporting emergency services providers to train their staff to respond to road collisions, comments:
“We face many challenges as a country right now, but we cannot afford to take our eye off the ball when it comes to road safety. Quite simply and sadly, it’s a problem that isn’t going away.
“Road safety is everyone’s responsibility, and we are delighted to be getting behind this fantastic campaign organised by Brake to raise awareness of the issue.
“Moreover, we reaffirm our commitment to supporting the emergency services to respond to and counter the all too real threat of road collisions.”
Watch Manager Darren Seymour is West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service’s SFJ Awards Centre Co-ordinator. Backing the campaign, he said: “Fire and rescue services see first-hand the damage that road collisions have on people’s lives.
“Road Safety Week is a fantastic initiative that helps to engage the community, raise awareness and raise funds to support victims.
“We are fully behind the message that road safety should be front of mind for all of us, and we reiterate our continued commitment to supporting and training fire and rescue services across the country to apply best practice when responding to road collisions.”
To find out more and get involved with Road Safety Week 2022 visit: https://www.brake.org.uk/road-safety-week
