March 31, 2021 10.52 am This story is over 36 months old

New police campaign urges drivers to ‘Slow Down In Lincolnshire’

52 people died on Lincolnshire’s roads in 2020

Lincolnshire Police has launched a new road safety campaign with #SlowDownInLincolnshire bumper stickers to try and reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured in crashes on the county’s roads.

There were 52 fatalities and a further 394 people injured on Lincolnshire’s roads during 2020. The number of fatalities is just two less than the previous year despite three national lockdowns.

Drivers are now being asked to display a #SlowDownInLincolnshire bumper sticker on their vehicle as part of the campaign, which is being run with the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership.

PCSO Dave Bunker monitors traffic in his town, Skegness, ahead of the bumper sticker campaign. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police

The stickers should be displayed to the rear of a vehicle or on the rear windscreen of a car, van, farming machinery, motorcycle or other large fleet vehicles. It calls for road users to respect their neighbourhood by observing the correct speed limit.

The stickers can be collected at the following police stations across Lincolnshire from Wednesday, March 31:

  • Spalding
  • Holbeach
  • Boston
  • Sleaford
  • Stamford
  • Bourne
  • South Park, Lincoln
  • Gainsborough
  • Louth
  • Horncastle
  • Spilsby
  • Market Rasen
  • Grantham
  • Mablethorpe

One of the #SlowDownInLincolnshire bumper stickers shown by PCSO Dave Bunker who is asking drivers to get behind the scheme. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police

They will also be handed out by local Neighbourhood Policing Teams. Drivers are being encouraged to take a photo of their vehicle displaying the sticker and tag in their local policing team to help promote the project.

The initiative was thought up by PCSO Dave Bunker after concerns about speeding from the local community in Skegness. He researched alternative ways of engaging drivers in road safety campaigns, and found a similar initiative used in the USA.

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

PCSO Dave Bunker monitoring traffic in Skegness. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police

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.”

A speeding van operated by the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership with Lincolnshire Police. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police

John Siddle, from Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership, added: “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.”