Launched originally in 2019, and after the significant impact of the pandemic in 2020 muddied the waters somewhat, the awards were back again in 2021.
The Drivetech Vision Zero Awards were launched to encourage Police Forces across the country to celebrate successful road safety activities in their force area and to share best practice.
We were pleased by the number of entries and would like to say thank you to everyone who submitted their ideas in the 2021 Awards. Submissions were of a really high standard and we would like to thank Ruth Purdie (CEO, UKROEd) and Nick Simmons (CEO at RoadPeace) for joining our own MD Charlie Norman and Police Business Director Des Morrison in the judging considerations. The 2021 winner was Northumbria Police (winning £5000), with the two runners-up being the Merseyside Police and Lincolnshire Police with the Andy Cox Challenge 2021 (each winning £1500).
The picture featured here shows the individual presentations of the awards and ‘cheques’ to the 3 force recipients.
Northumbria Police:
Operation Beacon looked at the impact of night-time economy on road safety and how development in resources, policing tactics and training for officers and partners could benefit the communities we serve and help reduce harm on roads.
It also aimed to explain, encourage and, where necessary, enforce road safety messages through partnership and collaboration by creating a dynamic and holistic approach to the issue.
The initiative focused on speeding, intoxication, fatigue, seatbelts and distractions and targeted regular road users such as taxi drivers and delivery drivers as well as younger and more inexperienced motorists with an emphasis on education and enforcement of road traffic legislation.
During the week-long operation, which ran last year, 533 vehicles were stopped, three people were arrested for drug driving offences and nine taxi drivers had their licences suspended due to vehicle defects.
Merseyside Police:
Safer Roads Watch enables people to join with the Merseyside Road Safety Partnership (MRSP) and make a real and visible contribution to making their roads safer. They can become volunteers, forming groups to address issues such as speeding, anti-social driving, working with schools to address parking and congestion issues and meeting with local businesses to gain support. The specific campaign submission was mainly around local speeding with volunteers detecting speeding on particularly identified higher risk routes. At the time of the submission, 20 roadside operations had resulted in over 350 drivers being detected and sent packs and letters to change behaviour.
Lincolnshire Police & “The Andy Cox Challenge 2021”:
The Andy Cox Challenge 2021 was the first event of its kind in the UK and certainly the largest single fundraising event that RoadPeace had ever encountered. Andy helped raise over £50,000 and achieved positive national and regional media coverage with his messaging about road dangers and the need to keep a sharp focus on road safety , and measures to reduce road deaths and serious injuries.
The Drivetech 2022 Vision Zero Awards will launch soon!
This current year’s campaign will be launched very soon so keep an eye out for details of this kick-off.
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