Groups across the Bath area are being encouraged to apply for Avon and Somerset Police’s Road Safety Fund as part of this year’s Road Safety Week.
The theme of the week is ‘Step Up for Safe Streets’, calling on individuals and organisations to play a part in helping to create a safer environment for road users.
A good way to do this is through the Road Safety Fund, which gives grants of up to £5,000 to support local road safety initiatives.
The Road Safety Fund is part of the Police Community Trust and is generated through speed awareness courses before being invested back into the community to support projects that are tackling road safety.
The fund is to support community and voluntary organisations who are working hard to keep their road safe.
A group that has already benefited from the fund is the Taunton Area Cycling Campaign (TACC) who last year received over £4,400 to implement a series of measures to raise awareness of ‘safe pass’ and improve local cyclists’ confidence on the roads.
Mike Ginger from TACC said: “We used the Road Safety Fund to create hi-viz vests and backpack covers with the message ‘1.5m please’ to emphasis the distance vehicles needs to be from cyclists.
“We have distributed 300 vests and covers and received plenty of positive feedback from local people who would recommend the equipment to other cyclists.
“We also used the fund to partly support training for group members who wanted to become ‘Bikeability’ instructors.
“The instructors meet nationally approved standards and now provide confidence training on a one-to-one basis to local cyclists.
“So far, over 30 local people have received training and many now have the confidence to cycle to work.
“Applying for the Road Safety Fund is straightforward and we would certainly urge similar groups like us to look into the fund.”
The grant criteria for the Road Safety Fund is:
- To support local communities to increase road safety and become safer, better places to live
- To increase improvements in road safety to reduce accidents and casualty figures in Avon and Somerset
- To improve education and training for children, young people, learners, inexperienced drivers and older drivers
- To reduce the economic and the personal costs of fatalities and serious injuries
- To improve awareness and educate drivers about non-vehicle road users including horse riders and cyclists
The next application deadline is Sunday 1st December.
Trevor Simpson, Avon and Somerset Police Road Safety Manager, said: “Local people are often unsure how speeding fines are spent and we want to let residents know that this money is being reinvested back into communities to tackle road safety.
“The Road Safety Fund allows Avon and Somerset Police to support local people on projects they are passionate about to ensure all road users – motorists, pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders to name a few – feel safe.
“Local people can make a huge difference to road safety and they know better than anyone what the road safety issues are in their area.
“I encourage local people and community groups to apply for the fund and help keep our roads safe.”
For further information, visit: https://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/services/police-community-trust/road-safety-fund/.
