Every year Road Safety Week calls on millions of people to take action and make our journeys safer for everyone.
This year our clients, colleagues and communities have once again supported the awareness week, which is run by the road safety charity, Brake. In these challenging times, the focus has been on ‘no need to speed’ whether you’re a pedestrian, cyclist or driver.
Throughout the week we shared stories of our clients who have been affected by the carelessness of others and talked about the advice you can follow to keep yourself and others safe.
We want everyone to commit to doing their bit all year around, not just on Road Safety Week - watch our animation to find out more.
Our clients and their families share their stories
Someone is injured on a UK road every four minutes and our clients have shared their stories to show how carelessness and speeding can cause serious injuries and loss of life.
Road traffic collisions affect not only those involved, but their families, as they are left to care for loved ones both emotionally and physically. Antony knows this only too well as his partner, Cristiane, was seven months pregnant when a car veered on to the wrong side of the road and crashed head-on into the taxi he was driving.
His legs were broken and he suffered a shattered hip and knee, along with a head injury. After first approaching another law firm, Antony and Cristiane were not happy with the way his case was progressing so approached Liz Whitehead, our serious injury expert to take over the case.
Read more about Antony’s story and how he’s adjusting to life as a first-time dad to 19-month-old Victoria, whilst still undergoing rehabilitation.
Our client Melania has made significant progress since she was hit by a driver on the wrong side of the road four years ago, and has now managed to return to work. She’s using her story to raise awareness of how life can be changed in a split second by careless actions, as she still experiences pain and stiffness in her legs years later. Read Melania’s story here.
Pedestrians’ key role in keeping themselves and others safe
Just 1mph can make all the difference when a collision occurs.
Alison enjoyed a fulfilling career as an astrophysicist, before switching her hobby into a full time job and becoming a landscape gardener. But her dreams of a quieter pace of life had to be put on hold when she was knocked down by a van as she crossed the road. She was trapped under the vehicle and after surgery at hospital, doctors said there was little option other than to amputate her left just below the hip. She’s since had a prosthetic leg fitted and has recently walked 1.2 miles, as she’s determined to regain her independence.
You can read more about Alison’s story here.
Joshua is another of our clients committed to raising awareness of the dangers roads can pose. He was crossing the road on the way home from a friend’s house in May 2019 when he collided with a car and he was flung into the air. The impact left him with a fractured skull, a bleed and swelling to his brain, a collapsed lung and facial injuries, for which we secured him intensive rehabilitation. He’s since been able to return to work but still faces various challenges as the brain injury has left him with fatigue and memory problems. Read more about Joshua’s story here.
Mum-of-four Sandra was devastatingly hit by a car not once, but twice. After the first incident she called to the driver to ask why he had intentionally drove into her, which prompted him to do it again, causing further serious injuries.
Sandra used her platform during Road Safety Week to warn others of the dangers of reckless drivers. Read more about Sandra’s story and how she’s continued rehabilitation through lockdown here.
Stark warning to cyclists
Kiernan was just 16-year-old when he was hit by the car of a drunk driver whilst out on his bicycle. He sustained a serious brain injury, fractured skull and broken neck and needed three life-saving operations. After spending 10 months in hospital and working intensively with a specialist neuro physiotherapist and occupational therapist, he eventually started to try and get his life back on track. Although Kiernan will always have weakness on the right side of his body, he’s determined to keep up cycling in a safe environment and rides a static bike every day. His family are sharing their story to raise awareness of keeping cyclists safe on the roads – a responsibility of both the cyclist themselves and drivers around them.
You can read more about Kiernan’s remarkable recovery here.
Campaigning
Our work to improve the safety of our roads is at the forefront of our work throughout the year, not just during Road Safety Week.
We're supporting the families of Jason and Nargis, who were killed in separate incidents on the M1 after stretches of it had been updated to so-called ‘smart motorways’. They have asked us to help them investigate if the upgrades by Highways England are safe, and if more could have been done to prevent the 44 deaths on smart motorways in this country over the past five years.
Find out more about their stories and how we’re campaigning for change here.
Following proposed changes to the Highway Code, we’re campaigning for more awareness about the upcoming amendments which see the introduction of a hierarchy of road users (rule H1), clarity to pedestrian priority on pavements (rule H2) and safe passing distances and speeds when overtaking cyclists and horses (rule H3).
You can find out more about the upcoming changes and our involvement as an associate member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking here.
Road Safety Week Podcast
The summer lockdown saw a 71% spike in speeding and also an increase of new cyclists on our road - this combination led to accidents that could have been avoided.
Recorded during Brake's Road Safety Week, our podcast reflected on the often life-changing impact of a road traffic collision, and considers how they can be prevented as the dark nights draw in and the winter weather arrives.
Our host Peter Lorence was joined by Michael Anderson a client of ours who suffered a bleed on the brain and had to have his left leg amputated after he was hit by a car going too fast in dangerous conditions.
We were also joined by traffic sergeant Paul Cording from the North Yorkshire police force. Paul has years of experience of road traffic policing and has had to attend far too many fatal incidents during his career.
Finally, our paralegal Phil King, talked about his current role and his previous one, where he served with Northumbria Police for over 33 years, as a family liaison coordinator and lead investigator into serious traffic incidents.
Listen to the podcast here.
We all have a role to play in keeping cyclists, drivers and pedestrians safe, and if we’re not switched on and sensible the results can be devastating – as this article shows.
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