Last week Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership was spreading road safety and active travel message to families, primary schools and communities around the county, as part of BRAKE Road Safety Week.
Last week, Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership was busy spreading road safety and active travel message to families, primary schools and communities around the county, as part of BRAKE Road Safety Week 2021.
This year’s national campaign focused on the theme of Road Safety Heroes, celebrating the vital contributions made to road safety by volunteers, road safety educators, emergency services and charities.
More than 1.3 million people die on roads around the world each year and road collisions are the leading cause of death for children and young people across the globe. Every day more than six children are killed or seriously injured on roads in the UK, a tragic figure which highlights the importance of promoting road safety in our communities.
A part of the campaign, organised by BRAKE, the national road safety charity, Warwickshire County Council, Warwickshire Police and Warwickshire Fire and Rescue came together to deliver interactive and engaging practical sessions, and provide information and advice promoting safe, active and sustainable travel through a programme of free events. Events were held at Kingsbury Water Park, Hartshill Hayes Country Park, Long Lawford Children’s Centre, as well as Bedworth, Rugby, Atherstone, Leamington, and Stratford Libraries.
Warwickshire County Council’s Road Safety Education Team led in-person workshops with families and young people that included a story from a local Warwick author, songs and interactive games. The workshops were a resounding success, with over 67 children learning about the importance of road safety. The wealth of virtual resources also proved popular, with over 18,200 children accessing the online materials.
Warwickshire Police were on hand to offer their expertise, giving information and advice on car seat safety as well as carrying out 16 child car seat safety checks. A number of bikes were also marked by local Safer Neighbourhood Teams at Kingsbury Water Park.
Throughout the week the Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership ran an innovative social media campaign, highlighting the work of ten of Warwickshire’s very own road safety heroes through the use of ‘hero cards’, which reached over 40,000 people. To see the hero cards please visit our social media, @WarksRoadSafety on Twitter and @WarwickshireRoadSafety on Facebook.
Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership plan to carry forward and build upon the great progress made during Road Safety Week, and to continue working in partnership to keep Warwickshire’s roads safe for all.
Cllr Wallace Redford, Portfolio Holder for Transport & Planning at Warwickshire County Council, said “Road Safety Week provides an excellent opportunity to promote the importance of Road Safety in our communities whilst celebrating the essential work carried out by our wonderful road safety heroes.
“Educating children on road safety should begin as early as possible, and so it’s a pleasure to see so many families and young people attending these workshops, organised by the Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership.
“It’s important to remember that it’s not only the jobs of heroes such as school crossing patrols, road safety educators, emergency service workers, and others, to keep our roads safe, but rather that we must each play our part, by educating ourselves on the subject as well as by taking full advantage of safe and active travel options.”
Chair of the Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership Philip Seccombe said “BRAKE Road Safety Week has been a great opportunity to show how partnership working and communication can make a real difference to improving road safety in Warwickshire and we will be looking for more and more ways partners can work together on road safety initiatives.
“It is a really exciting time for road safety in Warwickshire as we move into a new era of road safety by adopting a ‘safe systems’ approach. This means Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership will be looking at all aspects of road safety including road and vehicle design, speed, post collision care and road user behaviour to reduce death and serious injury on our roads. Our aim is to achieve the challenging target of a 50% reduction in death and injury on our roads by 2030, saving 172 people from being a casualty on our roads by 2030. We will need your help to achieve this.”
For more information on the Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership, visit: www.warksroadsafety.org
For more information about BRAKE, the road safety charity, visit: www.brake.org.uk