Targets are set for Bradford road deaths cuts (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Targets are set for Bradford road deaths cuts

9:00am Friday 17th February 2012 in Bradford By Jo Winrow

A new road safety plan for Bradford aims to further cut the number of casualties on the district’s roads.

New casualty reduction targets have been set, calling for fatal and serious road casualties to be reduced by at least 40 per cent by 2020. In Bradford this would mean no more than 149 such casualties in a year.

And the new plan, which has been drawn up by Bradford Council, is setting a more challenging target of a reduction in fatal and serious injuries suffered by children and young people of a half with no more than 22 by 2020.

The Safer Together plan for 2012 to 2014 sets out safer roads initiatives and emphasises the importance of working more with local people, responding to their needs and placing responsibility where it is most effective.

It also promotes increasing engagement through the district’s five area committees, which are now responsible for safer roads issues.

A number of initiatives have been set out including:

delivering highway improvements to reduce vehicle speeds and provide for safe pedestrian and cycle movements

promoting safer road use through road safety campaigns

pedestrian skills training for children and promoting safer routes to schools

influencing driving and riding behaviour though an education programme for schools and colleges

and reducing speeds through the use of safety cameras and driver courses.

In unveiling the plan, leader of the Council, Councillor Ian Greenwood, said: “Road safety is at the heart of our communities and affects much of what we do in our daily lives, on short trips within our own neighbourhoods, many of them on foot or by cycle, and on longer journeys using cars, motorcycles and public transport.

“Making roads safer means working more with local people, responding to their needs and placing responsibility where it is most effective. This road safety plan promotes increasing engagement through the constituency area committees which are responsible for safer roads issues, including the reduction in road injuries.

“We all need to take responsibility for road safety and the Council will continue to work with partner agencies to promote safer roads issues and the increasing involvement of local people.

“In this plan we are challenging ourselves and our communities to come together to create the safer roads that our neighbourhoods deserve.”

In the past ten years, the total number of people killed or seriously injured on the district’s roads has fallen by a third and the number of children killed or seriously injured has dropped by half.