Derbyshire take part in week-long road safety campaign

Derbyshire’s Roads Policing Unit are taking part in a week of enforcement to support a national road safety campaign focused on reducing death and serious injury.

The ‘One Road, One Week’ campaign is an initiative from the National Police Chief’s Council and will be taking place between 14-18 September.

The initiative invites police forces from across the country to focus their efforts into targeting routes with the highest harm statistics where, sadly, motorists have been either killed or seriously injured due to driving offences.

During the week our Road’s Policing Unit, along with partner agencies, will be targeting offences such as speeding, drink and drug driving and unsafe vehicles in a bid to keep our counties roads safer.

Alongside this, the Road’s Policing team will be supporting a separate European initiative named #ProjectEDWARD (Every Day Without a Road Death). This year #ProjectEDWARD is centred around driving for work and aims to raise awareness on speed, maintenance of vehicles, fatigue, HGV driving, towing and driver behaviour.

Chief Inspector Jim Thompson who leads Derbyshire Operational Support Unit, said:

“We’re very pleased to be supporting these campaigns as we know that road deaths are preventable, and the more we can do to educate the public and raise awareness about road safety the better.

“During 2019 there were 40 fatalities and 400 serious injuries as a result of collisions on Derbyshire’s Roads. Between January and August this year compared to 2019, we have seen a 48% reduction in fatalities and a 40% reduction in those seriously injured in collisions on our roads and it’s our intention to reduce these figures even further.

“Throughout this week Road’s Policing officers will be out and about across the county, targeting high risk routes and enforcing around motoring offences in a tireless effort to make Derbyshire roads safer.

“It’s our hope that by uniting the NPCC’s ‘One Road, One Week’ campaign with the #ProjectEDWARD initiative, we can safeguard our counties roads effectively -- with the ultimate aim being to achieve ‘Every Day Without A Road Death’.”

Police and Crime Commissioner Hardyal Dhindsa said: “I wholeheartedly support these campaigns and welcome the proactive action planned by the force to target illegal motoring. During my engagement meetings with local people - and throughout my #D383 tour - speeding is always top of the agenda and I do not underestimate the misery that it brings to our communities.  

“Any initiative that makes motorists think more carefully about their behaviour behind the wheel is to be welcomed. If we can spare just one family the pain and devastation of a fatal collision, then we will have succeeded.  

“I’m pleased the number of fatal collisions and serious injury accidents have fallen so steeply in 2020. However, this is no reason to become complacent. I recently invested in the launch of local Community Speedwatch schemes across Derbyshire and have funded 1,000 extra hours of speed enforcement through my budget to keep the momentum of improvement going. Additionally, the extra officers we have delivered in 2019-20 has strengthened the roads policing team and paved the way for more proactive work. 

“Safe driving is the responsibility of us all. If you spend most of your day on the road for work then it is even more important you maximise your own safety and the safety of others. This year’s #ProjectEDWARD theme will help promote a safe work culture and encourage drivers to play their part to reduce the risks.”