Royal Mail has partnered up with Liverpool’s speed reduction campaign, The 20 Effect, in a bid to help raise awareness of the dangers of driving at speed.
The partnership will see Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service and Merseyside Police support Liverpool City Council in delivering a number of training initiatives to Royal Mail staff at Liverpool based delivery offices. A fleet of Royal Mail Delivery vehicles will also be branded with The 20 Effect logo.
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 working with different community groups and partner organisations around Liverpool by providing education and raising awareness around safer speeds.
Royal Mail has an ongoing target to reduce road transport collisions by 15% year on year. As a public service which regularly drives down residential roads and its presence in the community is something that Royal Mail prides itself on – hence the reasoning behind getting involved with The 20 Effect.
Royal Mail Safety Director for the North West, Darren Thain, said:”We are delighted to be taking part in Liverpool’s 20 Effect. The scheme is an important one that can potentially save lives. We understand the need for safer streets, which is why as a responsible organisation, with a focus on the community, we are committed to making a difference. The workshops that the staff will go through will give them the education and support that they need to become true ambassadors of the campaign and it is one that we look forward to supporting on an on-going basis.”
Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport, Councillor Tim Moore, said;”I’m delighted that Royal Mail is on board for this important campaign. The 20 Effect aims to change the behaviour of drivers and help make our roads safer for everyone; and the branded delivery vans will be a highly visible, effective way of spreading the message far-and-wide.
“Support for this campaign continues to gather momentum, and it will be great to see the special 20 Effect fleet hitting the road, to give our efforts a further boost.”
Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service Watch Manager, John Cousins, said: “It is great news that Royal Mail fleet will carry the 20 Effect logo, along with our fire appliances. This will further increase public awareness of the Road Safety message spreading across Liverpool, that ’20 is plenty’ on our residential roads.
“Between January 1, 2010 and April 30, 2013, our fire fighters rescued 1,460 people from road collisions and 1,394 of those people suffered injuries. We are continuing our work highlighting safety messages to the public and working with pupils and in schools in Merseyside to help reduce these figures.”
The 20 Effect is a campaign run by Liverpool City Council 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.
Pictured are: Vincent Taylor (MRFS), Darren Shaw (Royal Mail) and Sergeant Paul Mountford(Merseyside Police)
