Kill your speed or live with it
Tuesday April 7, 2009
‘Kill your speed or live with it’ - that is the message from Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s road safety team to residents in the borough.
The council is supporting a national government campaign of the same name to get motorists to slow down on the borough's roads.
During the week of March 23, posters and leaflets were distributed across the borough showing people the consequences of driving too fast. On Wednesday March 25, road safety officers from H&F, Transport for London’s safety camera partnership team and police officers from the local safer neighbourhood team attended the Kings Mall Shopping Centre on King Street in Hammersmith to offer information and advice on safe driving.
The all-day event incorporated an information stall and displays from the Department for Transport and Transport for London’s Safety Camera Partnership. More than 1500 information leaflets were handed out. The public reaction at the event was one of overwhelming support of the council’s efforts to make local roads safer.
Councillor Nicholas Botterill, H&F cabinet member for environment, said: “The vast majority of motorists and cyclists in the borough are law-abiding and know that driving too fast can kill. Unfortunately there are a few erratic and irresponsible drivers and they need to realise that speeding costs lives.”
If a car hits a child at 30 miles per hour, there is an 80 per cent chance they will live, but if you hit them at 40mph, there is an 80 per cent chance they will die. In 2007, more than 700 people were killed in accidents where someone was driving too fast. For every one mile per hour a vehicle reduces its speed, the risk of injury reduces by five per cent.
Cllr Botterill added: “I hope that this event helped to remind people that speed limits on roads are there for a reason, and that there is no need for speed."
The council is also backing TfL’s spring campaign to cut motorcycle deaths across the capital, where drivers are being asked to take a second look before manoeuvring around motorcyclists.
There were 4,856 collisions in London involving powered two-wheelers in 2007, 944 of which resulted in a death or serious injury. Hammersmith & Fulham had the seventh highest number of motorcycle accidents in any London borough with 207 motorcyclists getting injured.
For further information, please contact Rob Orchudesh, road safety officer, on 020 8753 3336 or email him at rob.orchudesh@lbhf.gov.uk.
