Weeklong campaign highlighted dangers of speeding
Road safety partners in Wirral focused on one of the main causes of road traffic collisions during this year’s Road Safety Week campaign – excessive or inappropriate speed.
Led by the charity, Brake, Road Safety Week is an annual national campaign that aims to raise awareness of factors that contribute to collisions that cause death or serious injury and persuade the public to take greater care when out and about on our roads.
Road safety officers from the council, supported by Merseyside Police roads policing officers, volunteers from the Safer Roads Watch scheme and local schools and colleges took part in a weeklong programme of activities in support of this year’s campaign, which took place between 19th and 25th November.
The theme this year was ‘speed’ and everyone who took part wanted to raise awareness of the dangers of excess or inappropriate speed and help people better understand why safe speeds are so vital for safe and healthy journeys. Road Safety Week was also an opportunity for the police and Wirral Council to engage with residents around the new 20mph speed limits in the area.
One of the starkest statistics around speeding is that a pedestrian is around five times more likely to be killed when hit by a vehicle travelling 30mph than they are from a vehicle travelling at 20mph.
This, and other key messages around the importance of driving with greater care, was taken around Wirral during Road Safety Week by partners, including to students at Wirral Met College and pupils at Mount Primary School in New Brighton.
Safer Roads Watch activities throughout the week run by a combination of council and police officers and volunteers led to more than 100 educational letters being sent to motorists who were observed travelling above the speed limit for that particular road.
The locations where these activities took place were selected based on where residents had raised speed and safety concerns.
Road safety partners in Wirral work closely together all year round providing advice, support and education for residents of all ages. During Road Safety Week, these efforts are closely co-ordinated around the specific theme for the year, which this year was about speed.
When Wirral signed up to the Liverpool City Region Road Safety Strategy in November 2022, we reaffirmed our commitment to addressing vehicle speeds as part of the strategy’s ‘Vision Zero’, which aims to reduce the numbers of deaths and serious injury on Merseyside roads to zero. Deaths and injuries on our roads are not inevitable, they are preventable and we support every effort that is made to educate and inform all road users about their role in making our roads safer.
Many drivers are already complying with speed limits, but the joint community engagement campaign between police, council and volunteers, reminds all motorists that speed limits are enforceable where indicated by roundels at the roadside.
