To drive just a bit faster can have severe consequences. This is the message in a new road safety campaign launched today (30 March) by the Road Safety Authority in Wallonia and the minister for road safety, Maxime Prévot.
Every year about 100 people are killed in traffic accidents in Wallonia because of excessive or inappropriate speed.
“It is estimated that if all car drivers were driving 10 km/h above the speed limit on all types or roads, there would be a 50 % increase in casualties. There is a strong correlation between excessive speed and accidents,” the minister says.
The new campaign is based on the idea that a small difference in speed can change everything. Even a few km/h above the speed limit can have huge consequences and cause accidents: the higher the speed, the more time it takes to stop and the impact at a collision will be bigger.
Some facts from the campaign: A pedestrian has 20 % less chance to survive a collision with a car that drives at 65 km/h instead of 50 km/h. Some-one who is driving at 60 km/h instead of 50 km/h saves only one minute if the distance is 5 km.
This is especially important since it appears that Walloons generally like to drive “a bit faster”. On high-ways, 9 of 10 people say that driving at 130 km/h instead of 120 km/h isn’t driving too fast. On regional roads, where the speed limit is 90 km/h, 7 of 10 people think that driving 100 km/h isn’t too fast.
For the minister, this new campaign is an additional tool in achieving the objective of reducing by half the number of fatalities by 2020.
The campaign will be visible during April through posters along roads in Wallonia and in various public places, on radio, internet and on video. All information can be found on www.tousconcernes.be.
The Brussels Times (Source: Belga)
