The London Road Safety Council (LRSC) is supporting the inaugural ‘European Day Without A Road Death’ and is urging boroughs across the capital to do the same.
The initiative, coined Project EDWARD, takes place on Wednesday 21 September and encourages drivers, riders and pedestrians to spare an extra thought for their safety.
Designed to draw attention to the 70 deaths that occur each day on the roads of Europe, Project EDWARD is being organised by TISPOL* and supported in the UK by Road Safety GB, RoSPA and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).
With the help of GEM Motoring Assist, TISPOL has produced 10 short videos which raise awareness of specific road safety risks.
The 30-second videos, which are available to watch online, focus on issues such as speeding, alcohol, drugs, fatigue and vulnerable road users.
TISPOL is also asking road users to ‘make the pledge’ which requires them to follow a number of rules to ensure their safety. So far, more than 82,000 people have signed the road safety pledge.
TISPOL says it is vital to gain the support of both national governments and individual road users to bring about sustained and significant reductions in death and injury on Europe’s roads.
Mark Bunting, LRSC’s press officer, said: “Project Edward has the bold aim achieving a day without a road death across the whole of Europe.
“The LRSC fully endorses this aspiration, last year London saw an average of one road death every three days which contributed to an average of five road deaths a day across the UK.
“We want to make sure people know about this unacceptable toll and call upon our members in the London boroughs to promote EDWARD to their local communities.”
*TISPOL (the European Traffic Police Network) is an organisation established by traffic police forces across Europe in order to improve road safety and law enforcement on the continent’s roads.
02 September 2016