Emergency services chiefs together with representatives from local authorities have signed up to try to cut road accidents in Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire Chief Constable Alec Wood together with other chief officers rubber stamped the commitment at a conference held by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Road Safety Partnership today (Friday).

The event at Huntingdon Race Course featured speeches by Gillian Beasley, chief executive of Cambridgeshire county and Peterborough city councils; Dr Liz Robin, director of public health at the county council and Peterborough City Council; Mark Turner, chief executive of the Road Victims Trust and Dr Simon Lewis, clinical director at the East of England Trauma Network.

The conference also saw Police and Crime Commissioner Sir Graham Bright launch a road safety casualty reduction and support fund, which will provide about £100,000 annually to support the partnership’s work.

Provisional figures show that last year, 34 people were killed in collisions on the county’s roads, while 309 people were seriously injured and 2256 people were slightly injured.

Cllr Steve Criswell, chairman of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Road Safety Partnership, said: “This conference and declaration represents a commitment by all agencies to work together to prevent collisions and reduce the impact and severity of those that do happen.

“Every death and life-changing injury which happens as a result of a collision on Cambridgeshire’s roads is one too many.”

The declaration, signed by Mr Wood, Sir Graham, Acting Chief Fire Officer Chris Strickland, Dr Robin and Ms Beasley states:

“We want to reduce the number of collisions on our roads and therefore the number of people killed or seriously injured as a result and the subsequent impact on individuals, their families and the community.”

It then sets out the ways this will be achieved, including prevention and early intervention, speed limits and road layout, providing a swift and joined-up response to collisions, and supporting victims and their families.

At the conference, there was a “question time” session in which attendees were invited to question chiefs.

The conference coincides with a THINK! campaign targeting drug driving, which runs throughout February and March in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, and Hertfordshire.