Deaths and serious injures on the roads were prevented due to lockdown according to Brake at the start of Road Safety Week.

There was a reduction of 300 deaths and more than 6,000 serious injuries in 2020, compared with 2019.

This was the first decline in deaths and serious injuries in several years. Brake believe it should serve as a positive prompt for a renewed focus on road safety going forward.

Lock in lockdown successes

Road deaths and serious injuries declined across Britain as a whole. The biggest reductions in percentage terms were Scotland, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber, North East England and the East of England. However, there were still 1,460 deaths and more than 22,000 serious injuries on roads in 2020. More worryingly, South East England has an increase in deaths (239, up from 214 in 2019) – an increase of 12%.

Jason Wakeford, head of campaigns at Brake, “welcomed” the drop in casualties. However, he wants it to “inspire more action to make roads safer as traffic returns to pre-pandemic levels.”

Road Safety Week celebrates the work of road safety heroes across the country. These are people and organisations working to tackle deaths and serious injuries, turning the one-year drop into a downward trend.

This year’s campaign also celebrates the invaluable efforts of the emergency services. These include those who police the roads and save lives, at the roadside and in hospitals. It also shares a special place for the National Road Victim Service, who care for the emotional and practical needs of road victim families.

Wakeford believes “we can all be road safety heroes by using roads safely and taking actions for road safety in our families, schools, communities and where we work”.

To find out more about the week and other road safety initiatives, explore the Road Safety Week website here.

Can you help?

Brake is calling for individuals, communities and organisations to share stories of their own road safety heroes. There are a host of different way to do this  through social media, in schools, in company team meetings or special events.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps described the UK as having “some of the safest roads in the world”. He added that the government will “continue to work tirelessly to help see further reductions, including through our Think! campaign”.

Find out more about Road Safety Week here.