A Kirklees Councillor is calling for more commitment to improve road safety – but fears budget cuts mean there’s not enough cash to fund it.
Sunday, 17 November marked the beginning of Road Safety Week, with buildings across the world, including Kirklees town hall, being lit up in orange as part of World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. Each year, local schools, organisations and charities get involved in the annual campaign delivered by national road safety charity Brake to share important road safety messages and remember those affected by road death and injury.
In Kirklees, the council has committed to Vision Zero – a West Yorkshire-wide strategy working to eliminate all deaths and serious injuries from road incidents by 2040. At the start of the year, a meeting of Kirklees Council’s Environment and Climate Change Scrutiny Panel heard that “massive inroads” have been made in reducing the number of casualties on Kirklees’ roads.
Councillor Moses Crook, Cabinet Member for Housing and Transport said: “Road Safety Week serves as an important reminder that every choice we make on the road can prevent an accident and save a life. By making a pledge, we will commit to safer streets for all, one step and one journey at a time.
“We remain proud of the important work our emergency services, charities, schools, local community groups and partners continue to do to support safer roads in Kirklees and ultimately help prevent injuries and save lives.”
Leader of the Green group, Cllr Andrew Cooper, wants to see more council cash spent on road safety and is calling on the local authority to lead by example when asking the public to make pledges. He said: “Sadly, Kirklees for many years has had nearly a zero budget on road safety measures like traffic calming.
“Some wards, like Newsome, have used small ward budgets to carry out traffic calming measures that would otherwise not be supported by Kirklees policy. Now these budgets are reduced and constrained that will no longer be possible.
“Asking others to make pledges on road safety has its place but Kirklees needs to show more commitment to road safety by allocating a more significant proportion of the Highways budget to road safety. This is something the Green Group has consistently proposed in our budget amendments for many years. Disappointingly these proposals have always been rejected by the Labour Group on the Council.”
Meanwhile, Mayor of Kirklees, Councillor Nosheen Dad said: “No death or serious injury is acceptable on our roads. The work the council’s Road Safety team are conducting in schools with young teens is providing them with life skills that will remain with them and help keep them safe.
“On Sunday, I was honoured to be able to represent Kirklees at the SCARD Oakleaf Memorial Service held in Leeds, a moving service attended by those bereaved or injured on the roads.”
