“Slow down to save lives” – it’s international Speed Week.

Sussex Safer Roads Partnership (SSRP) are supporting the European-wide enforcement week, ran by TISPOL, the continent’s traffic police network, from the 16th to the 22nd of April.

Working with partners in Sussex Police’s Roads Policing Unit (RPU), the aims of the campaign are:

• To target irresponsible and dangerous drivers committing excess speed offences
• To inform drivers of the risks – both to themselves and to other road users associated with speeding
• To encourage drivers to obey speed limits and drive at speeds safe for the road environment

A number of tactics are being put into action during the week, to work alongside the day to day activities that RPU will be carrying out.

The safety camera team will be using their combination of fixed and mobile cameras to enforce the law and provide support to the campaign. As well as speed, they are able to capture mobile phone and seatbelt offences, both of which they are very successful in. They will be working with colleagues to ensure a robust stance is taken on tackling speeding offences in the county both this week, and subsequent weeks.

Community Speedwatch (CSW) will be providing extra support in local areas with their team of volunteers. CSW is a national initiative that backs the work of the police, where members of the public use speed detection devices to capture offences, which are then referred back to the police. Please visit the Community Speedwatch website if you are interested in joining or starting a group in your area.The week will also include a 24 hour speed marathon, starting at 6am on the 18th, running to 6am on the 19th, and SSRP will be deploying the Operation Crackdown Strike Team in order to provide a further visible policing presence on the roads. The Strike Team, made up of special constables, will be targeting collision hot-spots in Sussex and providing advice to road users, in order to instigate behavioural change.

Sergeant Badman, partnership sergeant for SSRP, explains the relevance of taking part in the campaign in Sussex: “Although figures for speeding have come down in recent years, there were still 939 casualties last year for the Sussex area. Compared to other priority areas such as motorcycles and cycling, who had 584 and 641 casualties respectively, this is still high, and we need to tackle this in order to achieve our aim of reducing those killed and seriously injured on the county’s roads. Speeding reduces your chances to survive any collision you may be in. You may think you’re in control of your vehicle, but you are not in control of what others are doing on the road. They could be the difference between life and death.”

Members of the public can keep up to date with activities by following @SussexSRP, @CommunitySpeedw and @SussexRoadsPol. We would also ask them to check their speed and encourage other drivers to do the same – you could save lives by doing so.