This article relates to August 2021. Please refer to the latest news for current updates

To help raise awareness of the importance of post-crash care, Devon Air Ambulance is supporting an emergency services motorcade as it passes through Devon.

On Monday 13 September 2021, Devon Air Ambulance will be lending full support to the Project EDWARD (Every Day Without A Road Death) ‘Fit for the Road’ campaign.

Devon Air Ambulance will help to showcase the importance of post-crash care, while other agencies, organisations and emergency services will promote discussion around vehicle safety, safe road use, safe speed, and safe roads and roadsides.

An alarming statistic

Last year, 216 missions of the 1507 missions that Devon Air Ambulance’s two aircraft and two Critical Care Cars attended were to road traffic collisions. This accounts for over 14% of all missions.

Devon Air Ambulance Operations Director, Nigel Hare said:

‘Every fatal road traffic collision is a tragedy, not just for the family and friends of those that have died, but also for others who were directly involved or who kindly stopped to render help and assistance.

‘The greatest tragedy, however, is that often these collisions are avoidable. All of us that drive can help reduce the chances of such tragedies occurring, simply by driving with greater attention to the road conditions and other road users.’

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A spectacle to help halve road deaths

A procession beginning in Plymouth will feature representatives from emergency services from each of the counties the motorcade passes through.

The three-day road trip through the southwest will showcase the efforts of Vision Zero South West which heads up the road safety partnership.

Strategic partners are assembling in Plymouth to engage the public in how all emergency services are working together to enhance road safety awareness and post-crash care to move towards the ambitious target of halving road deaths by 2030.

The Devon arm of the procession will begin its tour at 8.30 on the Monday 13th September at Marsh Mills Sainsbury’s car park, Plymouth, where a motorcade including representatives such as the Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Commissioner, Alison Hernandez, will address those assembled before the motorcade makes its way up to Exeter Airport.

The convoy will approach the Fire Services Academy at Exeter Airbase at 11.30am to visit Devon Air Ambulance. Here, Senior Consultant Tim Nutbeam, representing the Devon Air Ambulance service, will speak about post-crash care alongside staff from University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust Major Trauma Unit and Vision Zero VC Cllr Stuart Hughes. The aircraft may also hover over the motorcade if there is not a call out at that time.

The convoy aims to depart the airport at 2pm to make its way to Taunton where Somerset colleagues will support the procession.

The continued importance of post-crash care

Head of Communications at Devon Air Ambulance, Charlotte Leventis said:

‘Halving road deaths by 2030 is a worthy and ambitious aim, but we’re not there yet. That’s why we are delighted to support the Project EDWARD campaign and to help raise awareness about the efforts being made to enhance safety on our roads.

‘Without the expert and specialist attendance of the air ambulances services and of our colleagues in the Ambulance Service, statistics would be all the more grim. It’s thanks to the post-crash pre-hospital care given by specialist clinical teams at the roadside that more families and communities do not suffer the tragic impact of road traffic collisions and the loss of loved ones.

‘As a charity that is 100% funded by the communities we serve, we are absolutely behind this campaign and in supporting the message being rolled out as the Project moves across the country: Enhance road safety, enhance post-crash care: reduce road deaths.’

The public can attend the start of the motorcade at Marsh Mills Sainsbury’s car park in Plymouth at 8.30am on 13 September.

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