Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service Newsdesk

at 18/05/2006 11:00

Cornwall County Fire Brigade and Cornwall County Council’s Road Safety Unit are joining together during the World Cup and over the Summer to promote the importance of driving safely on the county’s roads. The hard hitting poster campaign.aims to raise awareness amongst drivers of the dangers of speeding, drink driving and driving whilst using a mobile phone.

In Cornwall last year there were 2078 reported collisions involving personal injury. 45 people were killed and 2852 injured.

“Firefighters in Cornwall are attending an increasing number of road traffic collisions. Last year (April 2005 – March 2006) they were called to 547 compared to 510 the year before. Cornwall County Fire Brigade want to reduce the number of RTC’s it attends and that is why it has produced this promotional literature, which will be displayed in public places across Cornwall” said Matt Littmoden, Chief Fire Officer.

“Cornwall County Fire Brigade recognises its responsibility for making Cornwall a safe place in which to live, work and visit. This includes working in partnership with many agencies to promote a high standard of driving and road safety awareness, especially amongst young people. We wanted to produce something that pictorially showed the result of an RTC to a vehicle and the potential serious consequences to the driver or occupants of the vehicle” said Ken Yeo, Executive Member for Public Protection

Cornwall County Council’s Executive Member for Strategic Planning and Transport Matt McTaggart is supporting the campaign, “We want to get the safety message out there to as many drivers and road users as possible. Road safety is an extremely important issue and a road traffic collision can have devastating and wide reaching effects on not just the victim but on friends and family. We hope this campaign will prompt drivers to think before they get behind the wheel of a car.”

Paula Wellings, County Road Safety Officer added, “The Road Safety Unit is extremely pleased to be working in partnership with The Fire Brigade on such a high profile campaign.” Paula continued, “We want all drivers to think about driving safely and, make sure they get to watch the Matches in one piece. It is not just their lives they affect if they have a road traffic collision: it’s the people in the car with them, the people in the car they may hit and their family and friends. It’s better to be late than dead on time and if they need to call their mates they should wait until they pull over to use their mobile”

“The Brigade and Road Safety Unit already work in partnership to deliver The Young Driver Education Programme. This is a one day series of classroom workshops designed to appeal to the next generation of drivers. The workshops are actively based using a mixture of videos, worksheets, problem solving exercises, role play, practical demonstrations and discussions and focuses on knowledge, attitudes and risk perception. The Young Driver Education Programme is aimed at key stage 5 pupils who are just about to learn to drive or who have recently passed their test” said Steve Brown, Divisional Commander Central Division.

Jim Sloan, Retail Manager for St Austell Breweries, which is backing the message, said: “St Austell Brewery is 100% behind this initiative. Road safety is an extremely important issue and one that can affect everyone. We would like to get the message across to drivers that if they are enjoying a drink this summer, they should always ensure that they have arranged transport home and never think about drinking and driving.”

Copies of the promotional literature are available from the Road Safety Unit on 01872 322000.