Road Safety Week (8-14 June) is being marked by fire crews in the Burnham-on-Sea area and across the UK by raising awareness of the dangers to young drivers of driving and being distracted.
In an attempt to reduce the numbers of young people killed on roads in the area, Devon and Somerset 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,” said a spokesman.
“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.”
“The collision risk increases with each additional passenger a young driver carries as a new driver is five times more likely to crash if they have two or more passengers in the car.”
Laura Pratt, Watch Manager for the Road Safety Partnership, added: “It is often the role of firefighters to release seriously injured people from vehicles after road collisions: this task is made even more distressing when the injured people are young. In fact road collisions are the biggest cause of death for young adults aged between 15 and 19. This is why we are keen to raise awareness of the dangers to these young adults and help save lives.”
“Did you know you’re four times more likely to crash if you use a mobile phone whilst driving and your reaction times will be 50% slower whilst talking on a phone? Statistically, more girls die as passengers than as drivers, so it’s important for female passengers to speak up if the driver is not driving safely: they might only be speeding to try and impress.”
