Everyone must take responsibility for saving lives – that’s the message from road safety experts as the latest casualty statistics are released.
Thirty-five people lost their lives as the result of a collision on South Yorkshire roads in 2022. A further 786 people suffered serious or life-changing injuries.
And although casualty numbers are reducing compared to pre-pandemic figures, the South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership (SYSRP) is urging all road users to take time today to think about the 35 people who lost their lives as well as the role we all have to play in making our journeys safer.
Chairman of SYSRP Strategic Board Tom Finnegan-Smith said: “These figures are a stark reminder that hundreds of lives are changed every year in South Yorkshire because of an incident on our roads.
“Behind every statistic, there is a family or loved one, torn apart by pain and grief. These numbers are about people - whether they are motorcyclists, pedestrians, drivers or cyclists – people who have set off on a journey and in some cases, never come home.
“We all have the power to change this. By travelling to the speed limit, putting away our mobile phones, taking extra time at junctions and safely passing cyclists, we can stop people being killed or seriously hurt on our roads.”
The Department for Transport figures show that a total of 821 people were killed or seriously injured (KSIs) in a South Yorkshire collision in 2022 – an increase of almost 18 per cent compared to 2021. When including slight injuries, the overall number of casualties for the county was 2,725 – a 0.8 per cent increase from the year before.
However, when comparing South Yorkshire data to 2019, road deaths have reduced by 21 per cent and both KSIs and all reported injuries have reduced by 16 per cent. This represents a decline above the national average in all categories.
South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings said: “When comparing the data with pre-pandemic levels, we can see that the numbers are reducing, however much more needs to be done.
“The lasting damage caused by road collisions can be greatly reduced by adopting the Safe System approach; making vehicles safer, making roads safer, reducing speeding and having an improved response when collisions happen.
“I urge all drivers to think about their safety and the safety of other road users by driving within the speed limits and helping to make South Yorkshire’s roads safer.
“I also urge people to put away, if not switch off entirely, their mobile phones when travelling. Using a phone is illegal for a good reason: it distracts sufficiently for a driver to make a serious error.”
Earlier this year, SYSRP committed to Vision Zero - an international aspiration to end all death and serious injury on our roads. The first step toward achieving this ambition is to halve the number of KSIs by the year 2030.
Partners are working towards this target by delivering a county-wide road safety education programme, casualty reduction travel schemes, investments in road improvements and public engagement through behaviour change campaigns. Road traffic police officers enforce the transport network through daily activity, mobile safety cameras and strategic operations.
Examples of interventions include free first aid sessions for motorcyclists, Community Speed Watch schemes, workshops with businesses and Active Travel campaigns which raise awareness about pedestrian, horse rider and cycle safety. The partnership is also a member of the National Young Rider Forum.
“To achieve our vision, we will continue to develop and invest in our education, engineering and enforcement programmes to ensure we are making our system as safe as possible,” added Mr Finnegan-Smith.
“Mistakes will always happen – we are only human – but if our speed is appropriate, we’re not distracted, our vehicles are safe and our roads are well maintained, we’ve got the best possible chance of avoiding serious injury should a collision occur.
“Where people are deliberately breaking the law, partners from our policing and safety camera teams will pursue these criminals and bring those risking innocent lives to justice.”
To find out more about the work being done follow South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership on social media, @SYSaferRoads.