Project Edward approaches
The annual awareness campaign was rescheduled due to the late Queen's funeral
Police chiefs, forces and Crime Commissioners across the UK are backing Project Edward.
The week of action for Project EDWARD – Every Day Without A Road Death was delayed to avoid clashing with the Queen’s funeral. It will now run from the 17th – 21st October.
Bigger and better
This year the campaign has organised its most ambitious week of events to date. It will be promoting practice in road safety.
Three road trips will criss-cross the country from Monday to Friday. They will be visiting the very best examples of road safety projects across England and Wales. Along the way, influential road safety individuals will be going along for the ride. Joining the team, they will share their insights and experience.
It is being described as “the biggest platform for showcasing good practice in road safety in the UK”.
The week-long annual campaign is backed by national and local government. They are joined by the emergency services, highways agencies, road safety organisations and businesses.
Project EDWARD promotes ‘an evidence-led, safe system approach – the long-term objective of which is a road traffic system free from death and serious injury’.
In the 2021 week of action the campaign team covered more than 3,000 miles and reached almost 9 million twitter users, with more than 60 million messages promoting the campaign’s ‘fit to drive’ theme.
This year’s theme is ‘Changing minds, changing behaviours’.
Speed support
Wednesday 19 October is National Safe Speeds Day. It is supported by the National Roads Policing Operations and Intelligence and Investigation (NRPOII), the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and the Association of Police and Crime Commissions (APPC).
Chief Constable Jo Shiner, National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for roads policing says welcomes the campaign. It is important to “highlight the benefits for all road users of understanding and choosing speeds that are legal and safe”.
Driving change
Katy Bourne, Association of Police and Crime Commissioners lead for road safety, says: “Every 22 minutes someone is killed or seriously injured on UK roads. These figures are a stark reminder that more needs to be done to make our roads safer. I am determined to drive forward progressive and lasting change, by ensuring that police have all the tools they need to understand how and why collisions occur and also educating the public on how they can protect themselves and others as road users.
Special guests
Additionally, contributions will be coming in daily from all four corners of the United Kingdom looking at projects from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
During the weekend 26th and 27th September, Project EDWARD will be featuring events focused on engaging motorcyclists including sports bikers, tourers, commuters and those engaged in the gig economy.
LEG 1
1: Brighton 2: Oxford 3: London 4: Reading 5: Birmingham
LEG 2
1: Telford 2: Rugby 3: Cardiff 4: Stoke-on-Trent 5: Leicester
LEG 3
1: Liverpool 2: Manchester 3: Chorley 4: Leeds 5: Durham
LEG 4
SCOTLAND (in collaboration with Transport Scotland)
LEG 5
WALES (in collaboration with Welsh Police)
ADDITIONAL PROJECTS
Additional projects will be included, in the form of pre-recorded segments, from areas not being visited by the road trip.
