The Safer Essex Road Partnership (SERP) was formed five years ago with the aim of drastically reducing death and serious injury from road traffic accidents in the county. It set an ultimate target of zero deaths, starting with a reduction of 40% by the end of this year. This is an ambitious objective, but it is hoped that through a series of initiatives and extensive engineering works, the roads can be improved and made safer. Of course, even the most carefully designed and well-maintained roads need to be navigated safely, and every motorist has a responsibility to ensure that their driving minimises the risk of harm to others.
Reducing Incidents of Speeding
According to the AA, driving at an inappropriate speed is still one of the most common causes of collisions on the road. Although the numbers of offenders caught has dropped slightly in Essex, this is still a serious problem. Last year, Essex police handed out over 90,000 speeding tickets, with the majority of incidents caught on camera. There can be a margin of error in speed cameras, and in certain cases drivers may be charged incorrectly.
Where a mistake has been made, a speeding lawyer can help to overturn tickets before the case reaches court. In other instances, SERP will seek to avoid prosecuting drivers by offering them the opportunity to attend a National Speed Awareness Course instead of receiving points on their licence. It is hoped that educating drivers rather than simply punishing them will be more effective in reducing speeding incidents.
Improving the Condition of Roads
Potholes on the busy main roads of Essex can cause damage to cars and force drivers to swerve in order to avoid them. Essex was labelled the ‘pothole capital of the east’ last year, and now local councillors are promising to repair road surfaces and attend to long-running problem areas with potholes. In addition, road safety engineers are constantly looking out for patterns of accidents and collisions involving vehicles skidding on wet or flooded roads, as a high occurrence of these incidents may indicate a problem with the surface. These sites can then be investigated and made a priority in general maintenance programmes.
Essex is home to some of the busiest roads in Britain and keeping them safe is a priority. By combining well-maintained roads with better educated drivers, SERPs ambitious targets to reduce injury and death on the roads of Essex could be met in a timely fashion.
