Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service

Shropshire is a rural county, statistically nearly three times more accidents occur in rural than urban areas, rural accidents are more likely to result in serious injury. (22% compared to 15% of urban car accidents). A similar pattern emerges with larger goods vehicles (LGV's) but interestingly only 30% of the casualties are from LGV's, the majority of casualties remain car users. Despite reduction in road collision casualties there were still over 1350 people seriously injured or killed in road collisions in the county. These injuries and deaths are the most significant source of accidental deaths accounting for approximately 55%of all accidental county deaths. Given our commitment to driving down road collisions we have employed a specialist qualified road safety officer and proactively engage with road safety partners to deliver effective campaigns. Through our Integrated Risk Management Plan we will ensure that Shropshire Road Safety Strategy is measured, evaluated and targeted, contributing to improved road safety by working in partnership with other agencies and by implementing a number of initiatives over the next three years. To pre-plan for Road Traffic Collisions (RTC's) through application of geographical Information systems, incident data and through liaison with partner agencies. We will ensure that we have the correct resources across the county to meet our RTC attendance standards. The following initiatives are proposed: 1.     Introduce a publicity campaign, which will advertise key road safety messages on emergency fire appliances aimed at improving driver behaviour and highlighting the dangers of excessive speed. Year 1 - five appliances. Year 2 - twelve appliance appliances and Year 3 - twenty appliances. 2.     Bikeability - We will deliver cycling proficiency courses in support of our partners to reduce the number of cycling collisions for the age range. Year 1 - Secure funding, develop, introduce and train up volunteers to deliver the bikeability course. Year 2 - 40 students. Year 3 - 50 students.  3.     Vehicle Crime Course - We will work with the Youth Offending Service to drive down road collisions involving at risk youths within the judicial system. Target for student numbers will be, Year 1 - 12 students. Year 2 - 18 students. Year 3 - 24 students. 4.     Motorcycle Campaigns - We will work with our road safety partners to deliver targeted education campaigns. Audience numbers, Year 1 - 200 motorcyclists. Year 2 - 250 motorcyclists. Year 3 - 300 motorcyclists.  Partnerships: Shropshire County Council Road Safety Team, Telford and Wrekin Road Safety Team, West Mercia Police, West Mercia Safer Roads Partnership, West Mercia Probation, Institute of Advanced Motorist.