The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, David Jamieson is opening the Project EDWARD (European Day Without A Road Death) event in Birmingham.
Project EDWARD takes place on 26th September 2019, and aims to reduce the number of tragic road deaths across Europe from its average of 70 per day.
The initiative has been running for since 2016 and last year 24 countries took part and last year 18 of the 24 countries who took part recorded 0 road deaths on the day.
Project EDWARD is coordinated by TISPOL, the European Roads Police Network, and is supported by all its 29 member countries.
A series of road trips will take place across Europe and will call in on schools, town halls, live police operations and road safety conferences.
Improving road safety is a key priority for the PCC and he has been actively working with West Midlands Police to reduce the number of fatalities on the roads.
The PCC has supported operations run by West Midlands Police to increase road safety including Operations Zig Zag, Top Deck and Close Pass.
The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said: “Ensuring that our roads are safe is a priority for me.
“It is important to remember that the vast majority of road users are safe drivers and it is the minority that put us all at risk.
“Project EDWARD is a good way of raising awareness of road safety and I am pleased I will be opening the event in Birmingham.
“Whilst I was a Transport Minister with responsibility for road safety, I worked to make our roads safer and I have continued this work as Police and Crime Commissioner.
“In the UK our roads are among the safest in Europe and we have led the way on road safety and in the West Midlands the number of people have been killed or seriously injured on the roads is falling”.
TISPOL President Volker Orben commented: “Today our road safety message is simple – every road user needs to take responsibility for their own safety – and the safety of those who share the roads with them. That’s because however we use the roads, we are all more vulnerable than we realise.
“The loss of life on the roads is a tragedy and it’s police officers who are on the frontline of dealing with death and serious injuries on our roads – at the scene where it has happened and then breaking the saddest of news to loved ones.
“On average around 70 people are killed per day on Europe’s roads. That number doesn’t include all the injuries and it doesn’t include the impact on families and friends. The toll is immeasurable. And in many cases it’s a wholly unnecessary tragedy that does not need to be tolerated as an inevitable by-product of our need to be mobile.
“Project EDWARD is aiming for a day without a road death but we shouldn’t settle for anything less than every day without a road death.”
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