This week is UK Road Safety Week
This week Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service (BFRS) is supporting the UK’s biggest road safety event, Road Safety Week (16-22 November), coordinated by Brake, the road safety charity.
Speed is important because it plays a part in every death and injury on our roads. The formula is simple: the higher the speed the harder the crash and the greater the risk of death and injury.
This year’s Road Safety Week theme, ‘No Need to Speed’, is a reminder to everyone of how the speed they travel affects other people. More than 1.3 million people die on roads every year and speed accounts for 1 in 5 fatal crashes in the UK.
Chief Fire Officer Paul Fuller said:
“Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service continue to raise awareness around road safety in the county. This week we are highlighting Road Safety Week 2020.
“We have a number of rural roads in Bedfordshire, which can be hazardous at this time of year due to the change in weather conditions and the earlier dark nights.
“We have produced a short film highlighting a stretch of the A507, which is a particularly dangerous piece of road and accounts for over 10% of the Road Traffic Collisions we have attended this year.
“The film points out the key hazards that drivers should be aware of when using this piece of road. I would urge you to be aware of the roads that you drive on and of those that you share these roads with.
“Always drive at a safe speed for the road conditions and never exceed speed limits they are there for a reason and that is to keep road users safe and save lives. Help us to keep our roads safe this winter.”
Between 1 November 2019 to 31 October 2020, BFRS crews attended 386 road traffic collisions across Bedfordshire.