Lancashire Police are supporting National Road Victim Month which shows the devastating impact of road crashes.

The annual campaign highlights the staggering number of people needlessly killed and injured in crashes on the UK’s roads.

Organised by RoadPeace, the national charity for road crash victims, the campaign hopes to raise awareness of the severity of traffic accidents.

Every day in the UK, five people are killed and around 80 seriously injured in road traffic collisions.

And in 2022, 1,766 people lost their lives and 141,560 were reported injured across UK roads.

This trend was matched in Lancashire, where 3,782 casualties came as a result of road traffic collisions in 2022.

August was chosen in honour of Princess Diana, who died in a crash in Paris, and Bridget Driscoll, the UK’s first road crash victim, with both incidents happening in the month.

Lancashire Police’s Operation Virage drink and drug driving campaign will be running in tandem alongside the antisocial driving campaign Operation Centurion, which support the aims of National Road Victim Month.

Over the last 12 months, more than 2,600 people have been arrested for drink and drug driving offences in Lancashire – seven people a day.

Through using state-of-the-art intelligence, the force intends to target repeat drink and drug drivers through  Operation Virage.

Superintendent Hassan Khan, of the specialist operations team at Lancashire Police, said: “In Lancashire, we do everything we can to prevent serious collisions on our roads and reduce the number of fatalities or serious injuries as a result.

“National Road Victim Month encourages us to take time and think about the serious consequences of dangerous driving.

"I would urge anyone using Lancashire’s roads to drive safely to help avoid unnecessary and life-threatening collisions.

“Please obey speed limits, do not use your phone whilst driving, always wear your seat belt and never drive whilst intoxicated.

"Together we can help keep Lancashire roads safe.”