Stay safe on the roads this summer

Seasonal plea from emergency services.

As part of a four-week Summer Safety campaign, West Midlands Ambulance Service is urging everyone to take extra care when using the region’s roads.

In 2013, ambulance staff and medics from the Trust attended more than 16,000 road traffic collisions across the West Midlands; on average that’s 300 a week. Figures from the Department for Transport state that across the UK last year there were 138,660 road accidents reported to the police. Worryingly, 1,713 of these resulted in a fatality.

Over the course of this week, West Midlands Ambulance Service will be offering advice to road users through a collection of press releases, videos and facts in a bid to help members of the public avoid becoming a patient in the back of one of our ambulances. As well as hearing from our paramedics and doctors who regularly deal with road traffic collisions, members of the public will also offer their views, advice, experience and opinions.

Whether you choose a car, bicycle, motorbike or your own two feet to get around our region this summer, use common sense to avoid becoming a statistic.