Authorities in Birmingham have announced an extensive road safety campaign, including ‘relentless enforcement of the rules of the road’, after a number of recent deaths caused by ‘unacceptable acts of road violence’.
In a joint statement, West Midlands mayor Andy Street, Transport for West Midlands (TFWM), West Midlands Police, Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster, Birmingham City Council, and walking and cycling commissioner Adam Tranter, said they are ‘working towards an environment where no-one is killed or seriously injured on our roads’.
They added: ‘This is a challenging but imperative goal that can only be achieved through relentless partnership working.
‘In recent weeks, several unacceptable acts of road violence have led to needless deaths and serious injuries on our roads. The outrage felt by communities is clear and justified.'
They said partners from across the region have been working around the clock ‘to reflect on our approach and ensure we are doing all we can to tackle the kind of dangerous behaviour that blights our communities'.
This included a series of Gold Command meetings chaired by Assistant Chief Constable Mike O’Hara as part of the immediate response and an ‘intelligence-led’ approach to enforcement.
Mr Foster (centre) at the launch of average speed cameras on Stratford Road, Shirley in January
At a meeting last month chaired by Mr Street, it was agreed that:
- A new Operation Triton, led by police and supported by partners, will focus on relentless enforcement of the rules of the road through intelligence-led operations and hot spot enforcement.
- A second team on the West Midlands Police Road Harm Prevention Team will bolster efforts to enforce against people who endanger vulnerable road users. ‘In addition, two new road crime teams will work day and night to target the most dangerous of drivers.’
- TfWM will launch a new high-profile road safety campaign supported and co-funded by each partner.
- West Midlands Police will grow capacity for third party reporting, giving communities power to submit dash cam and helmet cam footage to support police in tackling anti-social driving in their areas.
- Birmingham City Council will consult on reducing speed limits on main roads in the city to 30mph from 40mph and has commenced a pilot scheme to reprogram crossings to make them more responsive to pedestrians and give them longer times to cross.
- West Midlands Police will equip and upskill local policing teams to tackle road safety in their communities, with a particular focus on anti-social driving and speeding.
- Mr Foster will allocate a portion of the upcoming Safer Streets 5 funding to be used to tackle anti-social use of roads.
- Partners are working together to increase the number of average speed cameras across the network to tackle speeding on our most dangerous roads.
- West Midlands Police will work towards a significant increase in speed enforcement from 2024 in order that compliance with speed limits improves.
- Birmingham City Council will accelerate its A45 active travel scheme, ‘with spades in the ground for the first phase by this winter’.
- TfWM will launch a revised Road Safety Strategy in September, with the goal of a 50% reduction in the number of people killed and seriously injured on our road network by the end of 2030; ‘a pathway to our ultimate target of Vision Zero’.
- TfWM’s and Birmingham’s new Road Safety strategies, due this winter, will be aligned.
