You are in: Road Safety News: 30 April 2007
Brake maximises on Global Road Safety Week
Brake, the road safety charity, joined a coalition of UK road safety, transport and health organisations to call for a UN ministerial conference on road safety at the launch of UN Global Road Safety Week (23-29 April).
Prime Minister Tony Blair and Archbishop Desmond Tutu gave their support to the campaign, which was marked in London by a Rally for Safer Roads on 23 April, organised by Make Roads Safe.
More than 300 road safety professionals attended the rally, with speakers including Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, chairman of the commission for global road safety, and Michael Schumacher, former Formula One champion.
At the start of the week, the World Health Organisation released a report saying road crashes are the single biggest killer of 15-19 year-olds worldwide. Globally, more than 3,000 people are killed each day on roads. The World Health Organisation estimates that this will double by 2020, making road crashes the third biggest killer overall worldwide.
Brake marked the week by launching a manifesto for safer roads demanding urgent Government action to tackle the 91 people killed and seriously injured every day on UK roads.
Brake’s manifesto called on the Government to:
- create a safer driving culture by making road safety a compulsory part of the national curriculum, and introducing a more structured approach to learning to drive.
- ensure life-saving laws are properly enforced by increasing investment in traffic policing and making it a national policing priority.
- create safer communities and protect children on foot and bicycle by providing ring-fenced funding for 20mph safety zones around schools and homes.
During the week, Brake also ran hard-hitting presentations for young drivers. Volunteers trained by the FedEx & Brake Road Safety Academy, Brake’s community education project, delivered powerful, interactive presentations to young people in schools and colleges.
RSOs can find out if there is an active Academy volunteer in their area to assist with educational work by contacting Annabelle Rose on 01484 559939, or academy@brake.org.uk.
Brake also worked with the media to promote Global Road Safety Week and achieved coverage on GMTV, Sky News and BBC News 24. The charity is running free training on how to achieve road safety media coverage - in Edinburgh on 11 May and Sheffield on 12 July. To reserve a place call Dianne Ferreira at Brake on 01484 531037, or dferreira@brake.org.uk.
Brake will also be running National Road Safety Week on 5–11 November 2007. To find out more visit www.roadsafetyweek.org and click on ‘road safety officers’. |
