The Guernsey Branch of
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When the clocks go back casualties rise. This is the time when we try to highlight pedestrian and general road safety issues. In October we emphasised the BE SAFE BE SEEN message, encouraging pedestrians and cyclists to brighten up at night by wearing high visibility clothing. The annual poster competition in liaison with the College of FE was judged during Road Safety Week itself (23rd November). The topic this year was "speed" and the target audience was 16 - 25 year olds. |
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Eight students on the HND Graphic Design course under the direction of Martin Purvis produced posters and they were judged by Chair of Living Streets, John Gollop, and committee members Judith Le Tissier and Jean Lees. Sam Falla was the winner with his beautifully illustrated poster "Death Machine". He said he was shocked at the survival rates of pedestrians hit by speeding cars and this is what inspired his poster. His poster will now be used by PC Mick Chart in his schools liaison work. Living Streets provided cash prizes for the best three posters. |
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Throughout the week Living Streets displayed its Road Safety Week exhibition at the Guille Alles Library. This showed photos of actual road traffic collisions in Guernsey in the hope that islanders would reflect on the dangers of speeding on Guernsey's narrow roads with so many granite walls and blind bends. Also displayed were photos of groups wearing hi-vis gear and research data and accident statistics. We are most grateful to the Guille Alles Library for their support during Road Safety Week. |
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In April 2005 STEPS worked with the Problem Orientated Policing section of the Police to try to highlight the dangers of pavement parking.
The winning design in the 2004 Schools Road Safety competition was turned into a poster and 300 copies were distributed to schools and businesses.
The Police sent out 800 leaflets and 500 letters to parents and companies. During April 76 offenders were given fixed penalty fines - an increase on 26% over March.
Pavement parking is still a major problem. STEPS, with the help from its members and the public, have now reported in excess of 3,000 vehicles to the Police for parking on the pavement.
In March STEPS produced a 17 page document highlighting the number of road traffic collisions (RTCs) each year in Guernsey. Two islanders died and 200 were injured during 2004.
"What Price Road Safety?" was sent to all 47 deputies prior to the March States meeting to encourage them to think about road safety when debating the new Road Transport Strategy.
STEPS argued that RTCs were costly to the economy and the community. Using Department for Transport guidelines we calculated that the cost of treating RTCs in 2004 was almost 11million. Backed up by statistics from the Police and A & E we made 11 proposals for reducing RTCs under the headings of Education, Enforcement & Engineering.
The 11 proposals are:
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Education:
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| Education - a full time RSO | |
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Enforcement
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| Enforcement - pavement parking | |
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| Licensing - young road users | |
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Engineering
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| Engineering - speed cushions |
