Road safety week backed by Fire and Rescue Service in Nottinghamshire

Figures released by the service show that more than 500 collisions were attended on the roads of Nottinghamshire, causing 35 deaths and more serious injuries.

National statistics also show that road collisions are the leading cause of death for those aged 15-19.

The service’s head of road safety, station manager Matt Reavill, said: “We attended a high number of road traffics collisions last year, however, the figures we hold don’t actually paint the full picture as we don’t attend every collision on Nottinghamshire roads. In some cases – for example when nobody is trapped – the Fire Service may not be called to a collision.

“Despite this we are working hard to reduce the number of incidents on the county’s roads and this campaign comes at a very relevant time for us as we have attended quite a lot of these incidents recently.”

In an attempt to reduce the numbers, Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service is backing road safety week this week.

The campaign, coordinated by the fire service and Chief Fire Officer’s Association, aims to work with the community to make people more aware of road safety.

Activities targeted at schools, colleges and youth clubs across the county will focus on the dangers of driver distractions.

“Many fatal road accidents are attributed to drivers being distracted or using mobile phones and you are four times more likely to crash if you use one while driving. For this reason we ask people to simply not do it,” Reavill added, “Eating, drinking and smoking can also cause a distraction when behind the wheel and on top of this, passengers are actually the biggest distraction for drivers.”

For more information about the campaign, visit www.notts-fire.gov.uk.