POLICE in West Mercia and Warwickshire are urging motorists to slow down as they introduce a European-wide speed enforcement campaign this week.
The aim is to encourage drivers to think about their speed and to remind them to always travel within the speed limit.
It is estimated that across Europe speeding contributes to as many as one third of all collisions that result in fatalities and is the most important contributory factor to road deaths.
Speeding, as well as inappropriate speed can have a devastating impact on the safety of road users, increasing the risk of a collision and the severity of the consequences.
Over the past three years in West Mercia 96 people have been killed and 768 seriously injured in collisions where speeding or inappropriate speed was recorded as a contributory factor.
Throughout the week long campaign, which ends on August 12, local policing teams and community speed watch volunteers will be out and about doing a mixture of enforcement and educational initiatives.
Inspector Adrian Davis for West Mercia Police said: “Supporting this Europe-wide campaign with local activities is an important way of raising the issue and highlighting the dangers of speeding.
“There are many local residents across our region whose quality of life is affecting by people speeding through their community and families across the County that unfortunately know far too well the devastating consequences that speeding and collisions can lead to.
“We’d like to take the opportunity during this campaign to remind people of the consequences of speeding.
“Apart from the obvious, if prosecuted for speeding, the minimum penalty is a £100 fine and three penalty points.
“You could be disqualified from driving if you build up 12 or more penalty points within a period of three years.”
