South Holland motorits urged to get behind a new campaign to fight against speeding

Motorists in South Holland are being urged to get behind a new campaign that aims to make speeding ‘socially unacceptable’.

Police are asking drivers to put a ‘#SlowDownInLincolnshire’ bumper sticker on their vehicles in a bid to give fellow motorists a visible reminder to slow down when driving on our roads.

The stickers can be picked up at Spalding Police Station – and will also be handed out by neighbourhood policing teams. Police want people to attach them to cars, vans, farm vehicles, motorbikes and more to spread the word.

Officers have teamed up with Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership to run the campaign and say they are trying to cut the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads.

In 2020, despite a series of lockdown measures, 52 people died and 394 were seriously injured on Lincolnshire’s roads.

The new initiative was thought up by PCSO Dave Bunker – and is inspired by a similar campaign in America. PCSO Bunker said: “With the help of local drivers and businesses who commit to drive within the speed limit – or lower if the road conditions dictate – speeding could become as socially unacceptable as drink driving or not wearing your seat belt.

“Let’s do this together. If average speeds fell by 1% the number of crashes on our roads would fall by 5%. Every community across Lincolnshire will know the impact speeding can have on safety, from navigating our many rural roads where blind bends or poor overtaking can mean speeding poses even more of a risk, to keeping the streets where our children go to school or play safe.

“Tackling speeding is an important priority for the residents and people working in my neighbourhood and the rest of Lincolnshire, which is why as a Force we are rolling this out county-wide.”

He added: “This bumper sticker campaign is an innovative way of involving the local community in promoting the road safety message on their roads; we would like our communities to feel empowered to pass on the message to ‘slow down in Lincolnshire’ and work with us to make our roads safer for all.”

The road safety partnership says speed is a factor in about a quarter of all serious crashes.

Spokesman John Siddle said: “In previous enforcement campaigns we have seen drivers, local to their own community, exceeding the speed limit. What we say to drivers is to slow down in your community as well as other communities where people just like you want a safe place for their families.

“Despite three lockdowns in the last year we have still seen families torn apart by death on our roads, and although the overall number of injury collisions has fallen, the fatalities remained similar to previous years. We ask all drivers to ‘slow down in Lincolnshire’, and be that driver who keeps others, and themselves, safe.”

People are also asked to support by sharing social media posts, using #SlowDownInLincolnshire and #drivesafelincs. Drivers are encouraged to take a photo of their vehicle displaying the sticker and tag in their local policing team to help promote the project.

This campaign is the first push of a year-long road safety campaign launched by Lincolnshire Police under the banner of #drivesafelincs.