| As part of NYFRS' support for the week, various activities will be held throughout the county |
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is supporting the UN’s Global Road Safety Week along with the Chief Fire Officers Association’s (CFOA) National Road Safety Week both of which run from the 6th to the 12th of May.
The UN’s Road Safety Week is aiming to draw attention to the need to better protect pedestrians worldwide, and contribute to achieving the goal of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 to save 5 million lives.
Nationally, there has been a consistently downward trend with the number of pedestrians being killed or injured reducing every year since 2004, until 2011 when the numbers rose, particularly the number of pedestrians killed or seriously injured which increased in 2011 by 5.4% compared to the previous year. Within North Yorkshire and the City of York 2012 there were 21 serious pedestrian casualties.
Within these numbers, the largest numbers of pedestrians who are hurt are aged between 11 to 15 years of age. This is the age when young people are starting to travel around on their own or in groups with their friends. They are much more likely to make the journey to and from school by themselves than in primary school but need to gain the experience and skills to judge speed and distance and spot risky situations so that they can do so safely.
In support of this week the CFOA themes are centred around;
- Let’s look out for each other (young children / pedestrians)
- Distraction to Destruction (young drivers and the impact on pedestrians)
As part of our support for the week, we’ll be undertaking various activities throughout the county in partnership with 95 Alive, the York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership.
These activities will include road safety demonstrations in York, Richmond, Malton and Selby and use of specialist speed monitoring equipment in Richmond, Hambleton and Scarborough.
Station Manager Mark Naylor said; “Working with our colleagues in the partnership is a fantastic way to maximise the impact this week and all sides are ready to delivery a quality product. Everyone is looking forward to promoting this years road safety messages within their community and the fire service are well versed to promote ‘lets look out for each other’ as this is a key principle within the Fire Service.”
He continues; “As a partnership we will be working on the buddy buddy principle, to promote ‘lets look out for each other’ in the future.”
Allan McVeigh, North Yorkshire County Council Group Manager for Road Safety said; “The NYCC road safety and travel awareness team has promoted the national road safety day for a number of years. We are pleased to support the new United Nations Global road safety week, which recognises the particular needs of pedestrians as vulnerable road users.
“We all have a responsibility when using the roads to look out for ourselves and each other, however some road users need a little extra attention, so by taking extra time to consider young children and older people crossing the road, we can make sure everyone stays safe. Throughout the week, Road Safety Officers, together with our 95 Alive colleagues, will be at venues across the county, offering best practice advice on how pedestrians can keep themselves safe. We will also be targeting drivers to enlist their co-operation in helping to keep vulnerable pedestrians safer on the roads.”