Powys cuts road deaths

A Welsh road safety campaign has highlighted something that MCN and road safety campaigners have been saying for years – you don’t need speed cameras to reduce accident rates.

The Powys anti-speeding campaign has been massively successful in cutting the number of deaths on the regions roads, with the number of riders killed in the region falling by more than half in the last year.

The region is a big attraction for riders from all over the west with some amazing roads for bikes, and the number of resulting accidents was causing serious concern. But rather than pile on the speed cameras the local police and council opted for an education campaign. They put up signs to indicate the number of casualties and gave out maps of the area that highlighted the accident blackspots, giving riders prior warning of where to be careful.

The campaign was so successful that motorcycle deaths fell from 12 in 2003 to just 5 in 2004 and serious injuries dropped from 87 in 2003 to 49 last year.

The campaign was also accompanied by a big investment in training through the BikeSafe scheme, which has now been given the go-ahead to continue this year.

Local Inspector, Geraint Rees, said that rather than trying to get bikes out of the region, as in other parts of Wales, he was keen to encourage more riders as long as they rode safely.