The theme of this year’s Road Safety Week, the UK’s biggest annual road safety campaign, is Let’s Talk about Speed.

Five people die on roads every day, so why do we still think it’s OK to speed?

The 2023 campaign will start the conversation about why speeding is thought of as acceptable in some situations, what happens when we speed and why reducing speed saves lives.

The theme was set following discussions with representatives from community groups, the police, Government, businesses, educators and other charities.

This year’s campaign will see a day for each group connected with Road Safety Week – meaning there will be many ways for everyone to get involved.

Ross Moorlock, Interim CEO at Brake, said: “Every time we drive faster than the speed limit, or too fast for the road conditions, we increase the risk of a crash – and we increase the chance that someone will be killed or hurt on the road. The faster you go, the longer the stopping distance and the harder you will hit something.

“Whoever you are, and however you travel – this year we are challenging everyone to start talking about speed with your friends, families and colleagues.”
 

Speed also matters for our health and wellbeing:

Slower traffic can help make places feel more welcoming for the people who live, work and play in them. This can mean more people choosing to walk and cycle to get around and more people interacting with each other on the street, creating fitter, healthier and happier communities.

This Road Safety Week, we want everyone to learn that there is No Need to Speed and to find out just why speed matters for safe and healthy journeys.

• Individuals can learn what a safe speed is, speak with families and friends who may travel too fast and choose technologies, or modes, which help keep people safe.
• Schools can help young people learn how the streets around their homes and schools can have safer speeds and shout out for change.
• Organisations can step up their policies and procedures to ensure that their employees travel at safe speeds and understand why this is so important.
• Emergency service professionals can enforce speed limits and share their experiences of the impact of travelling too fast.
• Decision-makers can consider what changes can be made to our road environment to encourage safe speeds and healthy streets.

Brake founded Road Safety Week in 1997 as an annual event to promote steps that everyone can take to stop needless deaths and injuries year-round. As well as its campaign work, the charity supports people bereaved or seriously injured in road collisions.

To join the campaign please follow @SYSaferRoads on Twitter (X), Instagram or facebook. All week we will promote road safety messages using #RoadSafetyWeek and #slowdown

The Road Safety Week campaign is supported by funding from headline sponsors Arval UK and DHL.