HEROES of the roads in Warwickshire were in the spotlight during Road Safety Week.
Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership (WRSP) spent Road Safety Week spreading the word to families, primary schools and communities around the county.
This year’s national campaign focused on the theme of Road Safety Heroes, celebrating the vital contributions made by volunteers, road safety educators, emergency services and charities.
The partnership ran a social media campaign, celebrating the work of ten of Warwickshire’s Community Speed Watch volunteers, School Crossing Patrollers, and road safety education professionals who deliver training such as Biker Down.
Warwickshire County Council (WCC), Warwickshire Police and Warwickshire Fire and Rescue came together to deliver practical sessions and advice at Kingsbury Water Park, Hartshill Hayes Country Park, Long Lawford Children’s Centre, and libraries in Rugby, Atherstone, Leamington and Stratford.
Warwickshire County Council’s Road Safety Education Team taught 67 children about the importance of road safety at a series of workshops, while a further 18,200 children accessed online materials.
Warwickshire Police gave information and advice on car seat safety and carried out 16 child car seat safety checks.
WCC’s transport spokesman Coun Wallace Redford said: “Road Safety Week provides an excellent opportunity to promote the importance of Road Safety in our communities whilst celebrating the essential work carried out by our wonderful road safety heroes.
“Educating children on road safety should begin as early as possible, and so it’s a pleasure to see so many families and young people attending these workshops.
“It’s important to remember that it’s not only the jobs of heroes such as school crossing patrols, road safety educators, emergency service workers, and others, to keep our roads safe, but rather that we must each play our part, by educating ourselves on the subject as well as by taking full advantage of safe and active travel options.”
WRSP Chair Philip Seccombe said: “We will be looking for more and more ways partners can work together on road safety initiatives.
“It is a really exciting time for road safety in Warwickshire as we move into a new era of road safety by adopting a ‘safe systems’ approach. This means WRSP will be looking at all aspects of road safety including road and vehicle design, speed, post collision care and road user behaviour to reduce death and serious injury on our roads.
“Our aim is to achieve the challenging target of a 50 per cent reduction in death and injury on our roads by 2030, saving 172 people from being a casualty on our roads by 2030.”
Visit www.warksroadsafety.org for more information on the Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership.
Road Safety Week is organised by road safety charity Brake. Visit www.brake.org.uk for more information.