A pilot Road Side Education event in L15 has seen the community come together to inform and educate drivers in the area about 20mph speed limits and the dangers of driving at speed.
The activity gave communities a central role in promoting the city’s 20 Effect campaign and influencing behaviour change of drivers in their areas. It saw representatives from Liverpool City Council, Merseyside Police and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service all take a leading role in the activity. They stopped speeding drivers at the roadside, offering the choice of either points on their driving licence or having to watch an education video highlighting the potentially fatal hazards of speeding.
The information bus on site displayed artwork from the students at Mosspits Lane Primary School about The 20 Effect and the importance of driving at 20 mph. The children were on hand to show those pulled over their artwork.
The aim of The 20 Effect is to increase the number of residential roads around the city to a maximum speed of 20mph. The campaign is taking place by working with different community groups and partner organisations around Liverpool by providing education and raising awareness around safer speeds.
Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport, Councillor Tim Moore, said: “The 20 Effect campaign continues to make great strides in educating people of all ages about the dangers of driving at speed. The first of these Road Side Education events connected with and engaged even more people in the community. The involvement of community members, including young people, helped drive home the message and had a real impact on motorists.
“The Road Side Education event is the culmination of a year’s work in this area which has got everyone thinking and talking about 20mph speed limits.”
Watch Manager John Cousins, RTC Reduction co-ordinator at Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service said: “We are determined to help make the roads of Merseyside safer through supporting initiatives such as the 20 Effect and through our Drive to Arrive (D2A) and Engage programmes helping those learning to drive, along with younger teenagers, educating them about the dangers of distractions, mobile phones and other factors that can contribute to a crash. But it is not just about driver safety, it’s about making passengers and pedestrians safer too.”
The 20 Effect is a campaign run by Liverpool City Council and Liverpool Primary Care Trust (PCT) in partnership with Merseyside Police and the Fire Service, created to influence behaviour change around proposed reduced speed limits on residential roads.
Everyone can show their support by ‘liking’ the campaign on Facebook or ‘following’ the campaign on Twitter, and most importantly; by driving at 20mph on residential roads.
