Road Safety Week is the UK’s biggest road safety event, organised by ‘Brake’ – the road safety charity. This week aims to inspire thousands of schools, organisations and communities to take action on road safety and promote life-saving messages.
According to ‘Brake’, five people are killed on UK roads every day, and more than 60 are seriously injured. RSS Infrastructure (RSSI), a leading supplier of infrastructure services have taken precautions to try and reduce these figures, and make the transportation of workers to the site safer.
They have become the first company in the rail sector to utilise a specialist Driver Awareness Warning System (DAWS). The warning system is a dash-mounted device, focusing on the driver’s retina, measuring their ‘blinking pattern’ sounding audible warnings if signs of drowsiness, fatigue and/or attention is diverted from the road.
As well as this all fleet vehicles have, as standard, a vehicle tracking system (VTS) as well as a dash-cam installed to protect the driver and third parties. The company then uses data captured from the VTS to identify trends that can in turn improve driving performance, through advisement and training, as well as impose additional control methods. Real-time footage is captured from the dash-cams, and becomes instantly available. The company can then assess the severity of any incident and provide instant support and assistance.
RSSI and Network Rail have also identified that there is an industry wide issue relating to passengers and drivers not using their seatbelt when in a moving vehicle. With this being said, the company are supporting Network Rail in their endeavour to raise awareness for the importance of wearing a seat belt by unveiling their new seat belt covers. The unique covers have been designed using the same high-visibility material used for Personnel Protective Equipment (PPE). The reasoning behind this is to demonstrate to the person in the vehicle that the seat belt, as with the PPE clothing, is there to help protect and save lives. Furthermore, the reflective property of the material acts as a reminder that the seatbelts have been fitted and are available for use, especially when in a low visibility environment. The vivid colour and reflective material of the seatbelt covers also acts as an advertisement to other colleagues as well as the wider public to remind them to wear their seatbelt. These covers have resulted in an increase in the level of use, consequently increasing use within the wider driving community which will inevitably lead to a reduction in injuries.
Road Safety Week is an opportunity to discuss the importance of road safety and by putting these initiatives in place, RSSI are aiming to support such charities as ‘Brake’ in reducing the number of road accidents happening every day.
For more information on Road Safety Week visit: http://www.roadsafetyweek.org.uk/
