Saturday 20 May saw the first Road Peace ride for Essex, organised by PC Ben Houghton-Clarke from Essex Police.
The route involved cycling a 48 mile loop from Rayleigh Police station; one mile for every road-death in Essex during 2022. The event marked the end of UN Global road safety week which saw much road safety activity in Essex, including the launch of the Vision Zero pledge.
RoadPeace is a charity with the aims of supporting people bereaved or seriously injured in road crashes, promoting evidence-based policies, campaigning for justice for victims, and reducing road danger.
PC Houghton-Clarke was joined by Sgt Chris Bramhill and the SERP partnership manager, Will Cubbin. Will said: “It was a great event to reflect with SERP colleagues on the impact of road risk in Essex, and mark our respects to those taken too soon and condolences to the families left behind.”
Since the formation of RoadPeace in 1992 the annual number of people killed on UK roads has fallen from 4,229 (1992) to 1,752 (2019). However, this is still 1,752 too many so the riders are hoping for the Road Peace ride to get shorter and shorter, reaching zero as soon as possible.
22 May 2023