Chris and Nicole Taylor, from Northamptonshire, have been campaigning for safer roads since their daughter Beccy was killed in a crash in 2008. She lost control when her car hit surface water.

Here, they tell us why they are supporting the RoadPeace Challenge for a third year and how the safe system is the solution to reducing deaths and injuries on UK roads.

The safe system is the answer to reducing road harm

By Chris and Nicole Taylor

In 2010, the UN announced its first decade of action for road safety and set a goal of halving road casualties by 2020. Road deaths in the UK reduced from 1,854 in 2010 to 1,754 in 2012. After that it plateaued and by 2019 it was virtually unchanged with 1,752 deaths on our roads. We are now in the second decade of action for road safety and another opportunity to halve road deaths by 2030.

Vision Zero sees collisions as neither inevitable nor acceptable. For this reason, we use collision and crash rather than accident. Vision Zero is based on the premise that fatalities and serious injuries are preventable, and we need to design a road system that is forgiving of mistakes. There are five pillars to the safe system: safer roads, safer speeds, safer vehicles, safer road use and post-crash response.

We need safer roads – We should not be driving 5-star cars on major roads which have only 1- and 2-star safety ratings.

We need safer speed limits – Focusing on saving lives and preventing injuries rather than saving a few minutes.

We need to adopt the latest vehicle safety technology – According to TRL, over the next 15 years, the General Safety Regulation could prevent 1,762 deaths in the UK.

We need to be better road users – Looking out for one another. People make mistakes, we need to stop those mistakes resulting in deaths and injuries.

We need a post-crash response that is immediate and save lives – Then learn from collisions to prevent future deaths and injuries.

We need to act on that learning and be evidence-led, otherwise, this decade will be another missed opportunity.

Road casualties are the main cause of death for those aged 17-24. Rural roads account for 60% of all fatalities, this increases to over 80% for young drivers.

Young drivers are five times more likely to have a collision when carrying similar-aged passengers and eight times more likely when driving between 2 and 4 a.m. We need to protect young drivers, their passengers and other road users.

Updated on: 4 May 2023