Campaign call follows rise in city car crashes

THERE have been calls for harder hitting danger driving campaigns after a rise is the number of serious crashes firefighters were called to in Bradford.

Firefighters are often called to the most serious road traffic collisions (RTCs) to help remove people from vehicles by means such as cutting the roof off a car.

At a recent meeting of West Yorkshire Fire Authority’s Community Safety Committee members were given an update on the number of crashes the service was called to in the past 12 months.

One councillor pointed out that Bradford seems to have a disproportionately high number of serious crashes.

The report said across West Yorkshire the service attended 576 collisions between April 2023 and March 2024, with crashes accounting for two per cent of all the emergencies they attend. These collisions resulted in 444 injuries and 15 fatalities.

The report said: “Bradford fire crews have attended 144 RTCs in this reporting period, 29 more than the three-year average. There have been 100 injuries and four fatalities.

“Forty of these incidents have required firefighters to employ full extrication techniques to rescue the casualties.”

Scott Donegan, area manager for prevention and response at the fire service, said one of the measures to try and reduce crashes in West Yorkshire was the “Fast, Furious and Fatal” campaign, where firefighters work with young people aged 15 and up to teach them the consequences of dangerous and careless driving. Sessions to warn young people about the dangers of riding e-scooters and e- bikes were also being rolled out.

He pointed out that West Yorkshire has 100 miles of motorway and 6,000 miles of local roads.

Bradford Councillor Mike Pollard (Cons, Baildon) said a “heat map” of traffic incidents given to members showed Bradford as a particular hot spot.

He said while Leeds also showed a high number of accidents, it was a city with a bigger population than Bradford.

Coun Pollard added: “Bradford looks disturbingly red – especially in the three central Bradford constituencies. I know Operation Steerside continues to do good work, but is there anything we can do about this other than youth interventions?”

Mr Donegan said: “It is linked to population size, but it is also linked to deprivation.

“We do support Steerside and other campaigns – we had some success with a nitrous oxide campaign which led to it being classed as a controlled substance.

“A lot of the work we do is going into schools, talking to 16 and 17-year-olds who are about to learn to drive about road safety, and the consequences of dangerous driving.”

Wakefield Councillor Charlie Keith (Lab) suggested future awareness campaigns could be more hard hitting to counter the carefree attitude of many young drivers.

Mr Donegan told members that that changes to legislation mean dashcam footage from fire engines can now be used as evidence.

Mr Donegan said: “This can include cars overtaking a fire appliance with its blue lights on or drivers pulling out in front of us.”