Staffordshire Police and the Central Motorways Policing Group (CMPG) are backing an initiative by European road safety network TISPOL is hoping September 21st will be the world’s first European Day Without A Road Death, and has called on the support of all road users.
It’s hoped the campaign will encourage the public to think about how the behave, and their attitude towards driving in a bid to reduce the risk of serious collision on our roads. The campaign is highlighting the “Fatal Five”; excess or inappropriate speed, failure to wear seatbelts, driver using a hand-held mobile phone, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and careless and inconsiderate driving.
The teams Twitter handles @RoadPolicing and @CMPG will be engaging with the public, explaining the issues they are hoping to tackle, and making it clear how & when they will be operating. Rather than hoping to “catch someone in the act”, they would rather focus on giving appropriate warnings and stop dangerous driving before it begins.
Inspector Matthew Derrick, of the force’s Tactical Support Team, said: “In the past nine months the number of fatalities has fallen by 31% per cent but despite that 20 people were still killed on our county’s roads. One death as a result of a road traffic collision is one too many. We know there will probably be more fatalities on our roads in the future but those types of incidents are far less likely to occur if people treat the roads, and other road users, with respect.”
