Local MP supports Road Safety Week campaign

5.27.44pm GMT Thu 13th Nov 2008

Mark is supporting Road Safety Week

Local MP for the Cheadle Constituency, Mark Hunter MP, is joining Brake, the road safety charity, and bereaved families across the UK in a Road Safety Week (10-16 November) campaign urging the public to 'Stop. Imagine. Change.'

Families whose lives have been shattered by horrendous crashes are holding protests at twelve regional launches to plead with people across the UK to stop and imagine the shock waves caused in a community when someone dies or is severely maimed, and change their behaviour so they never cause such common devastation to their own family or someone else's. Road Safety Week is supported by the Department for Transport and sponsored by 3M, DHL, MASS (the Motor Accident Solicitors Society) and Kwik Fit Insurance.

Brake, also revealed the shocking results from a new survey which highlight the safety of children on our roads. The key results from the survey show that more than two-thirds of children who should have been in a booster or child seat used an adult seat belt instead, that 60% of child cyclists don't wear helmets, and that 5% of children have been hit by a car while out walking without their parents.

Mark Hunter MP says: "I fully support the 'Stop. Imagine. Change.' Campaign, the results of Brake's survey show us that our roads just aren't safe for our children. Yes, parents do need to act more responsibly towards their children and for example make sure that their children wear a seat belt or sit in their booster seat, and wear a helmet when riding a bike, but the Government also needs to stop dangerous driving on our roads.

"It's appalling that while uninsured drivers kill four people every week on our roads, the average fines for uninsured driving has fallen by 17% since 1997, from £224 to £185. It's also clear that the Government's policy on drink driving isn't working, with drink drivers causing as many deaths as they did a decade ago (460). To really tackle drink driving we need to bring the UK in line with the rest of Europe by reducing the alcohol limit from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood to 50 mg. Finally we need more an increased police presence to stop erratic drivers, so that dangerous drivers of all kinds know there's a good chance they will get caught."

Mary Williams OBE, chief executive of Brake, said: "Most of us worry about a loved one being killed on the road, but we also think it will happen to somebody else and not our family. The 'Stop. Imagine. Change.' campaign is a wake-up call that one in 252 people die on roads - and each death sends out crippling shock waves in communities. We all need to take a moment daily to think of the reality of road death and injury, take a hard, cold look at our behaviour on roads and improve it, whether that's by slowing down, switching off our mobiles, belting up our children in child seats, or holding their hands. Stop. Imagine. Change."