The story of a serious road traffic collision told from the perspective of four different people – a member of each of the emergency services and the sister of the person involved in the accident – will be featured in a demonstration at the RNLI Emergency Services Weekend in Whitby on 15 and 16 June. Teams from North Yorkshire Police joined by Police Volunteers and Cadets; North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue; North Yorkshire Ambulance Service; 95 Alive and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership will all collaborate to deliver the demonstration. The dramatic conclusion is scheduled to take place at 2.30pm on Saturday 15 June, when North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue. give a live demonstration of how they go about cutting the roof off a crashed car after an accident, to get someone out who might have spinal or other serious injuries. The “Actions have Consequences” project was originally designed to reach young people who are a vulnerable road user group and raise awareness that driving safely could literally be a matter of life or death. Present at the demonstration will be Tiffany Rollins who tells the poignant story of how she felt when her brother died when his Seat Arosa veered onto the wrong side of the road at speed and hit an oncoming vehicle, and how it affected her and other people. Tiffany said: “I help with the presentations to push road safety to other young adults as I aim to prevent more road traffic collisions in the area. Most people think that these things won’t happen to them and that they’re invincible, when in fact it can happen to anyone.” Actions Have Consequences was developed by North Yorkshire Police, and is supported by the 95 Alive York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership. Antony Baldwin, North Yorkshire Police Volunteer Area Co-ordinator for Scarborough and Ryedale said: “A momentary lapse of concentration while driving isn’t uncommon but it can be absolutely catastrophic. Many collisions are preventable. So we hope that people will take something away from this event and think about what they’ve seen when they get behind the wheel in the future.” Mandy Pepworth, North Yorkshire County Council’s Road Safety and Travel Awareness Officer said: “Tiffany’s story really resonates with the audience we are trying to reach. She is extremely professional and we are extremely grateful to her for sparing the time to talk to the public during this demonstration. “Feedback from previous events shows her story as being the one that really stands out for them, inspiring them to think about the potential consequences of antisocial or dangerous driving.” Steve Harris, Whitby Fire and Rescue Manager, said: “This is a great opportunity to demonstrate the multi-agency approach for a road traffic collision and the consequences of such an incident. Too often we attend collisions where the perceived skill of the driver outweighs their actual competence.” The Emergency Services Weekend is organized and managed by Whitby RNLI with participation from the following organizations: North Yorkshire Police, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, Yorkshire Ambulance Service, North Yorkshire County Council Road Safety, H M Coastguard, Scarborough Mountain Rescue, Yorkshire Air Ambulance, the Environment Agency and RNLI Lifeboats, Lifeguards and Community Safety. The objective is to assist the public to avoid danger, to keep safe and to know what to do should an incident occur.
