Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership has today published the Warwickshire Road Safety Strategy to 2030 setting out an ambitious target to reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads by 50% by 2030.

The development of the plan follows a public consultation which looked at attitudes to road safety and the measures that would be needed to make highways safer for all users.

‘Together’ is a key word in the Strategy as it calls upon the public as well as partners such as Warwickshire Police, Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Warwickshire County Council, Warwickshire Fire & Rescue and National Highways to play their part in making our roads safer as part of the new ‘safe systems’ approach.

The Safe Systems approach is built upon four principles:

1. People make mistakes that can lead to collisions
   
   
2. People are vulnerable to being killed or seriously injured in a collision.
   
   
3. Road Safety is a shared responsibility for all, including you as a road user and those that design, build, operate and use the road system.
   
   
4. All parts of the system must be strengthened so the road users are still protected if one element fails. This means that when a collision occurs we need to make sure we manage the transport system so the roads, the roadsides, the vehicles, the speeds and human behaviour all work together to increase the protection. If one is weak the other systems should come together to protect that person from serious harm.
   
   

Chair of Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership and Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe said: “In Warwickshire the ambitious target of a 50% reduction in road deaths and serious injuries means 183 fewer people killed or seriously injured on our roads by 2030.

“Talking about this target in real terms brings home how important it is that we reduce the numbers of people killed or seriously injured on our roads every year. Any number is too many and this new Strategy is just the start of our journey towards ‘Vision Zero’ to eliminate fatal and serious casualties, and create a safe road environment that will encourage active and sustainable travel.”

To achieve the Safe Systems approach, WRSP has established working groups with their own performance indicators to look at all aspects of road safety in order to keep people safe. The working groups are Safe Road Users, Safe Vehicles, Safe Speeds, Safe Roads and Post Collision Response.

These working groups will work together to improve the system and use all available data and evidence to determine the initiatives that need to be put in place. This work is supported by a Data Working Group and a Communications Working Group.

Chair of Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership and Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe said “We are excited to be part of this new way of thinking to increase the layers of protection for road users, to strengthen the system and to help reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads.

Mr Seccombe added: “We can only do this if everyone plays their part, so please join us by doing your utmost to become a better road user and do everything you can to help prevent collisions from occurring.”

Please join us on the journey to Vision Zero in Warwickshire. To view the Strategy to 2030 click here. A short video clip explaining ‘Safe Systems’ can be viewed below.

For more information about road safety in Warwickshire please visit www.warksroadsafety.org.uk and please follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Notes to editors
One of the reasons the ’50 by 30’ (Towards Zero Foundation, 2020) target to halve road deaths and serious injuries by 2030 was chosen for Warwickshire is because internationally, many territories and organisations have already adopted it. This includes the European Union in order to meet its long term strategic goal of achieving Vision Zero by 2050. European Commission, 2019.