Nottinghamshire Police backs charity's Road Safety Week

The campaign is co-ordinated annually by the national road safety and sustainable transport charity Brake.

As the charity launched its campaign today (Monday, November 20) it has revealed new figures showing that more than one in five (22 per cent) patients admitted to trauma centres in the East Midlands region were involved in road crashes in 2016.

Its new figures show that nationally road crashes were the second largest cause of trauma centre admissions last year.

An additional analysis of more than 75,000 road crash trauma patients in the last decade show that young people (aged 16-25) accounted for more than one in five (21 per cent) admissions – the largest affected age group.

Government statistics show that speeding was a factor in almost a quarter (22 per cent) of fatal crashes on roads in Britain last year.

This year’s Road Safety Week is urging drivers to slow down to cut the number of crashes fatalities and serious injury collision on roads.

Jason Wakeford, director of campaigns for Brake, said: “Not only do needless road collisions cause untold suffering but they also place an enormous strain on the NHS and other public services.Speeding is a factor in many deadly crashes and remains a major problem.

“Driving is unpredictable and if something unexpected happens on the road ahead, such as a child stepping out from between parked cars, it’s a driver’s speed that determines whether they can stop in time and, if they can’t, how hard they will hit.

“That’s why we’re encouraging everyone to ‘Speed Down Save Lives’ for Road Safety Week this year.

“Brake is also calling for a default 20mph limit in all built-up areas, increased enforcement and ‘Intelligent Speed Adaptation’, which helps drivers stay within the limit, to be fitted as standard to new vehicles.”

For more on the Road Safety Week visit http://www.roadsafetyweek.org.uk