It has been a very busy and also a very sad week for Gary as despite the efforts of the Roads Policing Unit 3 people still died last week as a result of road collisions in Warwickshire and two more are very poorly in hospital.

Gary is now writing up the report for one of the collisions. By recording exactly where and when the crash occurred and how it happened, the Road safety Unit can look more closely at the scenes and decide how to make the roads safer for other people in the future. Sometimes they work with the County Council Highways Department and will arrange to cut down bushes that obstruct visibility, they might ask to put up warning signs or to put down a special road surface that is less likely to cause skidding. Sometimes they will ask for the speed camera van to park up nearby so as to encourage motorists to slow down, and sometimes they will pay special attention to a particular road with more patrols than normal especially if drunk drivers or unroadworthy vehicles are likely to be found. The paperwork takes time to complete but is an essential part of the process in saving lives lost on our roads.

Most bad road collisions can be avoided. Excessive and inappropriate speed, drink driving, harsh steering, harsh braking, harsh acceleration and using mobile phones when driving can all cause a vehicle to crash but what do you think causes people to die?

The Roads Policing Unit have found that in Warwickshire over the past two years 1 in every three people killed was not wearing a seatbelt and in every case the seatbelt would probably have saved them from being badly injured let alone killed. Around 20 people who were killed in the last two years would still be alive today if only they had only worn their seat belt.

Gary says Seatbelts save lives - so Clunk Click every trip!