Kathleen Kilgarriff
November 20, 2017
Road Safety Week has just begun and Brake, the road safety charity, have announced their chosen theme this year is ‘Speed Down Save Lives’.
The aim of Road Safety Week is to encourage communities to come together and take action on road safety and to promote life-saving messages not just within the week, but beyond.
We all live busy lives and often wish for more hours in the day. A natural consequence of this can be that we give in to the temptation of rushing and perhaps speeding up in the hope of saving time. However, when it comes to exceeding the speed limit, the consequences of this can literally be life changing.
A driver’s speed determines whether they can stop in time. If they can’t stop then speed determines how hard the impact will be if something unexpected happens on the road – such as a child stepping out from between parked cars or the car in front slamming on their brakes. The unpredictability that comes with driving means we should all be more vigilant and aware of the dangers of driving too fast and how important it is to stick to the speed limits.
According to statistics in 2016:
- 81% of cars exceeded the speed limit on 20mph roads
- 53% of cars exceeded the speed limit on 30mph roads; and
- 46% of cars exceeded the speed limit on motorways
According to the Department of Transport, breaking the speed limit or travelling too fast for conditions is recorded as a contributory factor in 1 in 4 (23%) of fatal crashes in Great Britain.
It is statistics like these that underpin and emphasise the importance of Brake’s chosen theme this year and we can all play a part in preventing needless crashes which can result in injury and in some cases, fatalities. So next time you are in the car and even remotely tempted to speed to get to your destination quicker, remember.... Speed Down Save Lives.
About the Author
Kathleen Kilgarriff is a Paralegal within our Serious Injury Team.
Kathleen is an undergraduate Law student from Nottingham Trent University who joined the business in June 2017 for her placement year. With her career aspiration to become a Serious Injury Solicitor, Kathleen has joined the team to gain first-hand experience to enhance her knowledge and career prospects by providing support and assistance with the Serious Injury Team. Kathleen also assists in producing instructive blogs for the website about important events , in addition to providing support in the Employment Law Team.