Dermot
O’Leary, Welsh Ambulance Service’s Road Safety Champion and Rhyl based
Paramedic said:
“Sweden’s
roads are considered some of the world’s safest, and this is a golden
opportunity to meet with the authorities to take inspiration from their work
and share best practice.
“A
great deal of work is being undertaken in Wales to reduce road traffic
collisions, but even one death is one too many.
“We’re
keen to learn as much as we can from the Swedish Transport Administration about
the initiatives they have in place so that we can follow in their footsteps in
Wales.”
Sergeant
Christopher Grey, South Wales Police said:
“Being
able to share best practice from the best in the world offers us an opportunity
to create real change. For many years, police forces across Wales have come
together with partners to deliver campaigns, operations and interventions,
educating road users and taking action on those that break the law.
“Looking
at serious and fatal collisions across Wales, it is important that a new
approach is adopted to continue work being delivered by partners in the attempt
to see serious or fatal collisions disappear from roads across our country. ”
Sweden’s
roads have become the world’s safest, with only three of every 100,000 Swedes
dying on the roads each year, compared with 5.5 per 100,000 across the European
Union, 11.4 in America—and 40 in the Dominican Republic, which has the world's
deadliest traffic.
Commenting
on the Wales Fire & Rescue Services (FRS) involvement with this work, Chair
of the Wales Fire & Rescue Services Road Safety Group, Corporate Head of
Prevention & Protection for Mid & West Wales FRS, Mr Mydrian Harries
added
“An
integral part of the Welsh Government’s Road Safety Framework is to reduce road
deaths and serious injuries across Wales. As a Service, we now attend more road
traffic collisions than fires, which highlights the need to address the issue
urgently.
A
significant amount of work is already being undertaken across Wales to reduce
deaths and serious injuries on our roads but there is more that can be done to
bring about a positive and long lasting change to enable Wales to become one
the safest countries in the World to drive in.”