Dying to get to work? Ten or more of us are each week. More than 30 people die every week on UK roads – a third of them driving for work.
It is not just bus, coach and truck drivers but the motorists going to or from a meeting or appointment who are most at risk during the working day.
Despite UK road deaths falling to their lowest level, a total of 1,713 were killed last year on our roads, 21,657 seriously injured and there were almost 200,000 total road casualties last year.
A third of a million deaths and serious injuries are forecast by 2030 – the size of the town of Reading, report PACTS, the Government’s transport advisor, which fears that a sharp fall in casualties seen over the recession years may stall, as the economy picks up.
Most of the deaths and injuries are “entirely preventable,” said Des Morrison, MD of the award winning TTC Group, which educates 300,000 road users nationwide every year.
The UK road safety education organisation is launching a national campaign as part of UK road safety week urging everyone “to work together” to cut the tragic toll.
“Educating motorists is the answer to curb the devastating road death and injury toll,” said Mr Morrison, whose organisation has been teaching drivers how to avoid accidents since the early 1990s.
With one in three road crashes work related, he asked employers if they could “do more” to train staff to reduce the “unacceptable” accident rate.
He urged motorists to adopt the “COAST” road safety principles – a checklist of measures which can save lives and reduce casualties on our roads.
- Concentrate – focus on the driving task and avoid distractions such as mobile phones
- Observe – Read the road actively and scan for vulnerable road users
- Anticipate – Expect the worst and be prepared, it’s a win, win situation. Always think – what if ?
- Space – always leave at least a two second gap between you and the vehicle in front on a dry road. In the wet this needs to be at least doubled
- Time – Don’t rush – plan your journey and allow yourself plenty of time to think, plan and act – rushing can lead to poor decisions and a possible collision
“National Road Safety Week is coming up and should encourage us all to concentrate and improve our driving skills. If we can learn to adopt the COAST strategy, it may save some lives.
“Virtually all road crashes involve human error and are avoidable,” said Mr Morrison.
Speed, drink and drugs, not wearing seat belts and distractions are some of the main causes of deaths and serious injuries on the roads.
“Five people die on our roads every day and younger, inexperienced drivers are most at risk,” he added.
UK Road Safety Week, organised by the charity Brake, runs from November 17 to 23.
The TTC Group aims to reduce road casualties by educating road users and runs speed awareness courses and road safety education courses nationwide for motorists, professional and fleet drivers, motorcyclists and cyclists.
A UK leader in road safety education, they were a pioneer in introducing drink drive rehabilitation courses in the 1990s.