A £1m fund has been launched aiming to eradicate deaths and life-changing injuries on Greater Manchester’s roads by 2040.
The Vision Zero Fund, available to partners of the Safer Roads Greater Manchester Partnership, will support the city-region’s ambition to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2040, and reducing figures by 50% by the end of the decade.
Kate Green, Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester for Safer and Stronger Communities, said: “Deaths and serious injuries on our roads have been normalised for too long and there is no other form of transport where this would be tolerated.”
In Greater Manchester alone, nearly 10,000 people have died or been seriously injured on the roads since 2014.
Last year, 45 people lost their lives, and 754 were seriously injured.
Green added: “Bold action is needed. Our Vision Zero Innovation Fund is just one part of our commitment to delivering this change.
“I’m excited to see the new and innovative ways our emergency services, local authorities and wider partners can work together to achieve this.”
Safe Drive Stay Alive
The Safer Roads Partnership runs various intervention and prevention projects throughout the year.
One of these is the Safe Drive Stay Alive project delivered in partnership between Greater Manchester Police, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, North West Ambulance Service, and Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust.
Every year, the project invites college students and youth groups in Greater Manchester to attend an “emotionally engaging 1.5 hour performance” consisting of impactful short films and speeches from each of the emergency services.
There are also presentations by members of families whose lives have been affected by a serious road traffic collision.
Five road traffic collisions a day
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) now attends more road traffic collisions than fires, about five a day.
“It piles up huge costs for emergency services”, said Green.
In 2022, road deaths in Greater Manchester cost almost £500m in medical, emergency services, damage to property, insurance costs and lost output.
Dave Russel, Chief Fire Officer of GMFRS and Chair of the Vision Zero Strategic Steering Group, said: “Over the past 12 months, our crews have attended nearly 2,000 road traffic collisions and too often witness the heartbreaking consequences of road traffic collisions on the families, friends and loved ones of those involved.
“By working together and taking decisive action, we can prevent unnecessary deaths and life-changing injuries and make Greater Manchester a safer place for us all.”
Today, partners of @SaferRoadsGM including @manchesterfire, @gmpolice and @beenetwork, launched a £1m fund to improve road safety.
— Deputy Mayor for Safer and Stronger Communities (@DeputyMayorofGM) November 21, 2024
The Vision Zero Innovation Fund will support road safety partners to deliver Greater Manchester's ambition of eliminating road deaths and… pic.twitter.com/zJXjCxKaF5
‘If I wasn’t campaigning, I wouldn’t have a life’
Calvin Buckley, whose wife and unborn child were killed by a dangerous driver on the M66 last year, welcomes the fund.
He said the money could help “a lot of people and projects out there that need funding so they can make a difference and start saving lives”.
Now a road safety campaigner, Buckley is trying to set up his own road safety academy “in the name of my partner and unborn child”.
He said: “If I wasn’t campaigning, I wouldn’t have a life. Everything that I’d been working for, my dreams, all went in an instant.”
Buckley’s pregnant wife Frankie Jules-Hough died in May 2023 when she was hit by a motorist who was driving at 123mph while filming himself with his phone.
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