Speaker November 13th 2012

Our speaker on Tuesday November 13th was Superintendent Gary Ashton of the North Wales Police who, amongst other responsibilities. is responsible for policing the roads in north Wales.

With the huge increase in vehicles on our roads over the past fifty years, road traffic accidents account for a very high proportion of serious injuries and fatalities.  In 2011 there were 200,000 people injured and 1,900 killed on the roads of Great Britain.

It was against this background that Gary entitled his talk 'Casualty Reduction'

Some of the main points made were

• local authorities are responsible for safer roads
• government  sets targets for casualty reduction
• both of the above and the police have a responsibility for education
• the police have a general responsibility of the protection of the public which, of course, includes on the roads
• enforcement is a key feature of police work and especially around the areas of drink and drugs, seat belts, speed and the use of mobile phones
• groups vulnerable to high casualty figures include young male drivers and motorcyclists

Casualty reduction is reduced by the 3 E's  - Engineering, Education and Enforcement.