Motorists in Birmingham five times less likely to wear a seatbelt
A new campaign's been launched
A new advertising campaign has been launched to encourage people to belt up in cars after figures revealed motorists in Birmingham were five times less likely to use a seatbelt than the national average.
The Fasten your Future campaign, featuring social media videos, shows the consequences of failing to wear a seatbelt for young people – the potential future life events they will miss out on.
The campaign has launched in the week a new West Midlands Road Safety Strategy is published setting out an ambition to reduce deaths and serious injuries on the region’s road to zero.
A previous strategy in 2019 set a 40% reduction in accidents resulting in a fatality or serious injury over ten years to 2028.
The most recent figures show the number has reduced by 16.2% over the last four reported years.
As well as saving lives, the fall in fatalities and serious injuries has also reduced the average annual regional cost to society of road accidents by £25 million a year, under criteria set out by the Department for Transport.
The new strategy for 2023-2030 has been developed by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) and local councils, which have a legal duty to improve road safety, working with a range of partners including the police and emergency services.
Darren Divall, regional road safety manager for TfWM, said:
“It is imperative that we continually review and refresh our approach to road safety and that we are working towards a common goal with a long-term mission, whereby nobody is killed on our roads.
“As well as better protecting life and limb, this goal will also contribute to our aims of reducing congestion alongside the huge impact accidents have on society and our economy as a whole.
“We know this will be hard, we do not expect to achieve Vision Zero within the timeframe of this strategy, however it is right that we set out our long-term ambitions and vow not to let up in our focus on road safety until this is achieved.”
The strategy sets out how measures taken will be led by evidence and will include further means to reduce and enforce speeding – the key factor in the severity of collisions and resulting injuries.
Simon Foster, the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, said:
“Vision Zero is a necessity. We simply cannot accept death and serious injury on the region’s road network.
“That is why I made a commitment to ensure that road safety is at the heart of an ambitious and strong road safety strategy, that encourages collaboration and drives the partnership towards delivery of a safe road network.
“Proper enforcement of speeding and other offending on our roads is vital in creating a safe environment. However, income from fines currently goes to central government and is not retained locally for investment in road safety initiatives. As a result, schemes are small in number and do not address the scale of the problem. We need to change that.”
The draft West Midlands Road Safety Strategy is set to be published on Friday, 12 May, for stakeholders and residents to review and have their say and will be available on the TfWM website.