Proud to support Road Safety Week 2017

Novum Law is proud to support Road Safety Week 2017 (20^th -26^th November), a national campaign organised by the road safety charity Brake.

Road Safety Week aims to educate and inspire thousands of schools, organisations and communities to take action on road safety and promote life-saving messages during the awareness raising week and beyond. It also provides a focus for the many professionals working in road safety to boost awareness and engagement in their work.

This year’s message is ‘Speed down, save lives’ and at the core of the campaign is a plea to drivers to watch their speed and to highlight the devastating consequences of driving too fast.

Sadly, in our line of work, we know only too well the tragic consequences of serious road traffic accidents. Driving is unpredictable and if something unexpected happens – whether that’s a child stepping out from between parked cars or an unexpected icy patch on the road – it is a driver’s speed that will determine whether they manage to stop in time (and if they can’t, how hard they will hit).

Today’s modern cars are designed to be more powerful than ever reaching high speeds quickly and effortlessly. We all live increasingly busy lives and there may be a temptation for some to speed up to try and save time. The stark message from this year’s campaign is that this could cost lives.

According to statistics from Brake, travelling too fast for conditions or breaking the speed limit is recorded by the police at crash scenes as a contributory factor in one in four fatal crashes in Great Britain.

We can all play a part in raising awareness about the dangers of driving too fast. This year’s campaign is focusing on the following key messages:

• Speed causes deaths and serious injuries on our roads
• Rural roads are not ‘race tracks’
• 20mph is the only safe speed in heavily built-up areas used by pedestrians and cyclists
• Going slow = stopping in time
• Speed is scary and noisy. It stops communities being enjoyable places for children and families to walk, talk and play

For more information about Road Safety Week 2017, visit http://www.roadsafetyweek.org.uk/.