Posted on 13th Aug
Road safety education and initiatives are at the centre of a new Nottinghamshire County Council initiative as it aims to reduce preventable road traffic collisions that result in fatalities or serious injury by 40% in the next 10 years.
The council’s Transport and Environment Committee hopes it will build on the success of surpassing a previous 10-year target by 5%.
Working in partnership with Via East Midlands, the council:
Educates 22,000 young people each year on topics including pedestrian safety, seatbelts, independent travel and distractions.
Delivers a full programme of road safety education in schools.
Has so far trained 9,000 young riders through the nationally-recognised Bikeability scheme.
Ensures more than 10,000 children cross the road safely to school each day thanks to the School Crossing Patrol Service.
Works with older people on the Drive On scheme, aimed at prolonging the time that they are able to drive safely.
Works with local businesses to deliver Occupational Road Risk training, which increases road safety awareness for people who drive for work.
Coun Neil Clarke, chairman of the Transport and Environment Committee, said: “We hope to continue reducing the devastating impact that collisions have in Nottinghamshire.
“Keeping our highways as safe as possible for all road users is one of our top priorities.
“We recently surpassed our 10-year casualty reduction target thanks to the great work of our Safer Highways Team, who are at the centre of how we work with people of all ages to increase awareness of road safety.
“We recognise that when many people think of road safety, speed cameras and traffic calming measures may be some of the first things which come to mind, however it is initiatives designed to drive behavioural change on the roads which have the most success and impact.
“I recently saw first-hand at Jesse Gray Primary School and Hucknall Flying High Academy how the Bikeability Scheme instils awareness and knowledge of road safety in young people, who one day may go on to become drivers.
“I was incredibly impressed, not only with how the students took to learning about road safety, but also with the practical delivery of the scheme across the three different levels.”
