Thousands take part in Road Safety Week

Brake’s annual Road Safety Week campaign, which called on everyone to start a national conversation about speed, has been declared a success.

The week-long campaign, sparked discussions about the dangers of speed on our roads, and questioned why some people think it’s ok to drive over the limit.

This year, more than 4,000 schools, communities, organisations and emergency services, together representing more than 18 million people, signed up to take part by organising local activities.

Brake provided free resources online including campaigns toolkits, lesson plans and assemblies for school, as well as factsheets, films, posters and more for businesses, local communities and campaign groups.

Lucy Straker, campaigns manager at Brake, said: “We’ve been delighted and overwhelmed by the level of engagement we’ve seen this Road Safety Week.

“Today, five people will be killed on our roads. And tomorrow, another five won’t make it home to their families. And so on, and so on, until we all say 'enough’ and start taking responsibility for each other’s safety on the road.

“The speed we choose to drive at can mean the difference between life and death. Our speed dictates whether we can stop in time to avoid a crash, and the force of impact if we can't stop. That’s why we needed to start these conversations about speed and we urge everyone to keep these conversations going and let’s all challenge each other to only drive within the speed limit.”

Road Safety Week 2023 was organised by Brake, sponsored by Arval UK, Autoglass and DHL Supply Chain, and supports the Department for Transport’s Think! campaign.