BURY is to blitz reckless road users in a battle to save lives. Road safety officers from across Greater Manchester have come together to support a new drive to cut deaths and injuries on our highways.

And they have unveiled a major advertising campaign to get a simple message across to drivers: "Commit it to Memory - Speed Kills".

Between July 1997 and July of this year, 1,098 road users were injured in traffic accidents in Bury, with ten killed, including four pedestrians. Another 40 people suffered serious injuries.

In Greater Manchester, the cost of accidents was more than £340 million.

Now, all ten local authorities have been drawn together by the Greater Manchester Group of Road Safety Officers to plan the blitz of their boroughs through giant billboard posters and bus advertising.

The promotion will also see adverts screened at cinemas during the month-long campaign.

Councillor Steve Perkins, chairman of the local authority's engineering sub-committee, said: "Speed is probably the largest single contributory factor in road accidents.

"That is why all borough councils in Greater Manchester have come together to try and make a significant impact in our region.

"We want to cut not just the financial but also the emotional cost of such tragedies and make our roads safer for drivers, riders and pedestrians."

Pictured at the launch ogf the poster campaign are (from left) Chief Inspector David Bleackley of Greater Manchester Police, Coun Perkins, Mr Mike Cannon, Bury's borough engineer and Mr Paul Birch, Bury's senior road safety officer.

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