The Fatal Four

29th May 2021 | Community

Several roads between Kibworth, Fleckney and Saddington have been identified recently as being above the national average for road traffic collisions (RTC). These roads are, Fleckney Road, Kibworth Road and a section of Warwick Road. The speed limit for these roads is currently 60 mph, however they will soon all be being reduced to 50 mph.

Within the last year the crew at Kibworth have attended several serious RTCs in the local area, and many of these were avoidable or the injuries sustained could have been less severe.

Many RTCs across the country are caused by ‘The Fatal Four.

The Fatal Four Poster
  1. ’Alcohol/Drug Driving – No excuse! Alcohol, drugs and even prescription drugs slow downyour thinking and reaction time. Don’t let your family or friends get behind the wheel if you know they’ve had a drink. “I’m only going down the road, I’ll be fine!” Will they?
  2. Use of mobile phones – No excuse! Use of a mobile phone while driving will double your reaction time. Keep it in your pocket. If you call someone and realise they’re driving, end the call and call back later.
  3. Speeding – No excuse! Speed limits are not targets. Just a few extra mph can make all the difference in your reaction and braking distances, especially in poor weather conditions. In the local area, frequently we see cars not slowing down to 30 mph before they enter the village. What if a child was crossing the road?
  4. Not wearing seat belts – No excuse! No matter how short your drive it, always wear a seat belt. Wearing a seat belt reduces the chance of being killed in a RTC by 50%. Collisions will always happen, but when they do, seatbelts save lives.

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service’s website contains lots of great road safety information and videos etc.

Do you have a new or young driver in your family? It’s really worth sharing this information with them. The crew at Kibworth Station will soon be running a road safety competition with Kibworth Primary School. The pupils will be designing speed awareness posters, from which the fire crew will select a winner, and several other posters, that we would like to turn into speed awareness signs to put up in and around the local villages. We will show the winning poster in a future article.

A big subject this month and lots to talk about, so Crew Manager Espin’s introduction will have to roll over to next month, in fact, I think I’ll pass the writing duties to him for the next article.

Thanks for reading, stay safe!

Jamie Dawes

Watch Manager, Eastern Blue Watch and Kibworth On-Call