Posted: 08/08/2012
The first person to be killed on the UK roads by a car died in August 1896. Today, according to the national charity for road victims, RoadPeace, in excess of 760,000 people have been killed on the roads worldwide this year alone. RoadPeace estimates that 5 people are killed each day on UK roads.
August is National Road Victim month – chosen for a number of reasons including the fact that due to school holidays, the numbers of children killed on the roads and cars involved in accidents increase in August each year. The campaign is aimed at remembering those who have died in Road Traffic Accidents and at promoting road safety.
Like RoadPeace, we see first hand the devastation caused to families by fatal accidents on the roads. Our experience, sadly, tends to be that many fatal accidents are related to drink driving. Department of Transport statistics in 2010 indicated that 1 in 4 daytime accidents involved alcohol and 1 in 2 at night time. In the last few weeks we have settled a case where a family man was knocked over and killed by a young driver who was driving whilst over the limit and this is not the only case of its type that we have dealt with. Drug use and driving also seems to be becoming more common.
The other themes we see with fatal and serious accidents tend to be young drivers not paying sufficient attention and groups of young adults in cars together with the distraction and sometimes recklessness that this entails.
The devastation caused by the loss of a loved one in a road traffic accident is huge. The impact of serious injuries can also be life changing. However the support and information that victims and families receive is very variable. The penalties that drivers receive when charged for driving offences often seem to be small compared to what has happened – in the case we settled, the driver charged with causing death by dangerous driving received a prison sentence of only four years – with every prospect of that being halved in practice.
RoadPeace, is calling for an end to the discrimination of road crash victims and for road crime to be treated like other crimes, such as murder, in terms of the way that families are supported but also in the way statistics are gathered and action taken to address motoring offences.
One piece of good news is that motoring fines are expected to increase and, for the first time ever, be invested in support services. As part of their response to the consultation on motoring fines, RoadPeace will be arguing that it is not just the size of the fine needs to change: road crime needs to start being treated as real crime so that victims and families get the support and justice they deserve.
At Penningtons we support the work done by RoadPeace to campaign for support for victims of road crashes, but also their aim to increases safety on the roads, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists and ensure steps are taken to reduce the number of serious crashes each year.
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