'Every death or life-changing injury on our city-region’s roads is one too many'

Pupils from E-ACT Academy in Blackley were among the crowds of people who joined together to walk a collective 173 miles in remembrance of those who lost their life in road-traffic collision while raising awareness of road safety.

More than 150 participants braved the gloomy weather to walk the 'community mile' in Heaton Park yesterday (May 16th) as part of the RoadPeace Challenge 2024. The challenge is an annual awareness and fundraising event held during Global Road Safety Week.

The event was also used to bring the Vision Zero Action Plan to the attention of Greater Manchester residents and encourage everyone to 'work together' to stop the 'devastating impact' of road traffic collisions. The plan aims to eradicate all road-traffic life-changing injuries and fatalities in the region by 2040.

The Deputy Head teacher of E-ACT Academy spoke on the importance on having the school involved in an event like this.

Sarah White said: The Vision Zero Action Plan launch is an important event for us to be involved in. Some families at our academy have unfortunately experienced life-changing events due to Manchester’s roads. Our school is located on a particularly high-risk road where serious collisions and tragedies have occurred over the years,"

“It is important to us that drivers understand their responsibilities on Manchester roads and outside our school, and that our pupils recognise the risks posed. We need to all work together to keep each other safe.”

In the last ten years nearly 10,000 people who live, work in or visit Greater Manchester have been killed or seriously injured in road collisions.

In 2022 alone there were 71 road traffic life-changing injuries and collisions every month in Greater Manchester. In total 64