The West Yorkshire Combined Authority have announced a plan to eliminate road deaths and injuries by 2040.
The West Yorkshire Vision Zero Strategy was officially launched in Bradford today. It will be carried out in partnership with emergency services, local authorities, National Highways, victim support services, road safety campaigners, and Calderdale couple Bev and Steve Gough will work together to eradicate road deaths and injuries.
“This isn’t a one-man job,” said Chief Inspector James Farrar, head of West Yorkshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. “We will work in partnership with different organisations to ensure road safety.”
The strategy focuses on key themes such as safe roads, safe behaviours, safe speeds, safe vehicles, post-collision response, community involvement, data-led improvements, providing justice, as well as education and awareness. Under each of these themes sit objectives for the short and longer term but at the strategy’s heart is the message that everyone has a responsibility to keep people safe on the roads of West Yorkshire.
Road safety is one of the biggest concerns of residents as approximately 5 people are killed on the country’s roads every day. 1,457 people were killed or seriously injured on West Yorkshire roads in 2023. Reducing the number of road deaths and serious injuries is a pressing concern in the region.
By 2030, Vision Zero aims to reduce road related deaths and injuries by 50%. Alison Lowe
OBE, Chair of the West Yorkshire Vision Zero Board and West Yorkshire’s Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, discussed the need for bold measures to do things differently than has been done before, with new data, new partners, and new approaches.
“Road death is not inevitable,” Lowe said. “One death on the road is one death too many.”
Lowe emphasised the importance of raising awareness and increasing education surrounding the topic, saying newer and more effective methods would be used to ensure increase in education and awareness about road safety among the younger population.
“We have to keep in mind the fatal five causes of road death: speeding, careless driving, drug and alcohol use, mobile phone use, and not wearing a seat belt.”
Lowe aims to reduce speed limit around schools to 20mph. Safe roads is one of the five pillars being focused on for road safety, along with safe road users, safe speeds, safe vehicles, and the post-collision response.
Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Regeneration, Planning and Transport claimed they would “continue to seek out areas of high risk and use all available resources both in the council and our partner agencies to remove death and serious injury on Bradford’s network.”
Vision Zero also aims to promote sustainable forms of transportation, like bicycles, public transport, and walking. Utilising such resources can also help contribute towards less private vehicles on the road and in turn, less road deaths and injuries.
Despite doubts having been raised about how realistic the plan is, Cllr Alex Ross-Shaw insists the goal is complete eradication of road deaths and serious injuries.
“We need to be ambitious,” he said. “We need the ambition to drive the numbers down.”
Cllr Ross-Shaw and Deputy Mayor Lowe agree that the strategy is not about reducing the number of road deaths and serious injuries, but eliminating it completely. If carried out successfully, Vision Zero could be an exemplary and innovative strategy that can be applied nationally and even globally.
Read more about the plan at West Yorkshire Vision Zero Strategy – West Yorkshire Combined Authority (westyorks-ca.gov.uk)
