July

Share the Road to Zero

The Department of the Environment has welcomed the Queen’s University Belfast Students’ Union’s support for the ‘Share the Road to Zero’ road safety campaign.

Brídín Beckett from DOE Road Safety said: “‘Share the Road to Zero’ is a huge community programme with one aim – a vision of zero road deaths in Northern Ireland.  As road users, we all share the road, so this campaign is asking us to also share the responsibility.  As such, we are encouraging citizens in Northern Ireland to sign up to a path towards no deaths on our roads and in turn pledging to use the roads safely.”

In 2012 the number of road deaths in the region reached its lowest level since records began in 1931.  However, 48 people died and 48 families were devastated by these tragedies.  Every one of those road deaths is one too many.

Mrs Beckett added: “The goal of reducing road deaths to zero is a shared community responsibility.  As such, I want to encourage everyone to join us on a journey towards zero road deaths.  Any organisation can support this aspiration by pledging and encouraging members or employees to pledge and adopt safer behaviours on the roads.

“As road users, we all have responsibility to behave appropriately – as a driver, a passenger, motorcyclist, cyclist or pedestrian so that we do not take risks and we do not put our own lives or anyone else’s in danger.”

“The support of the community is vital if we are to further reduce road casualties. Queen’s Students’ Union, which represents some 24,000 students, have pledged their support by raising awareness of the Share the Road to Zero campaign to both staff and students at the University.”

Connor Daly, Vice-President Campaigns and Communications at Queen’s Students’ Union, said:

“I want to encourage everyone at Queen’s and the wider community to join the journey towards zero road deaths by pledging their support for the campaign at sharetheroadtozero.com  and would remind them to drive carefully, encourage safer practices and continue to raise awareness of the responsibilities of all road users.”

Organisations and individuals can view the television campaign and pledge online at www.sharetheroadtozero.com and share through Facebook and Twitter.