Hundreds of drivers will be asked to pledge their commitment to cutting their speed on Cumbria’s roads as part of the 'respect' road safety initiative.
Staff and patients from Workington Community Hospital will sign a special pledge showing their personal commitment to reducing speed in their area on Friday 22nd July.
The pledge is an element in the ‘respect’ road safety campaign that was launched at Lakes College, Workington in May. Cumbria County Council, Capita Road Safety and Cumbria Constabulary are responsible for running ‘respect’ in selected areas of Workington and Whitehaven.
The campaign is designed to promote respect for speed limits and reduce the number of road casualties in the area. In 2004, ten people were killed and 120 were seriously injured on roads in Allerdale and Copeland. Cumbria as a whole saw 57 people killed and 377 seriously injured on the roads last year.
Bridget Stanley, Capita Road Safety Officer, said:
"We are encouraging everyone to come along and make the pledge. It won’t cost you anything, and by doing so you may help save a life. Making the commitment is part of the long term campaign designed to make speeding as socially unacceptable as drink driving."
"Speed humps and other engineering measures do make most drivers slow down, however, attitudes and behaviour towards speeding still need to be changed to ensure that drivers take responsibility for their actions, which is what we aim to achieve through our respect campaign".
As well as the pledge scheme, respect employs a number of measures including:
·Speed awareness training, where certain drivers in the ‘respect’ areas will have the chance to swap fines and points for education
·Speed indicator devices flashing-up drivers’ current speeds at the roadside
·Young driver training courses for newly qualified drivers
Since the campaign started in West Cumbria in May, 103 drivers received special speed awareness training from road safety officers, five drivers have faced prosecution, one driver has been disqualified and a total of 320 speed commitment pledges have been returned.
The latest Department for Transport speed campaign video will be on display to illustrate the dangers of speeding in the campaign trailer.