The Fatal Four Event - Sutton in Ashfield

Hundreds of people looked on as firefighters and police officers dealt with a road traffic accident involving two cars and a pedestrian in Sutton town centre on Friday. (May 30th)

In swerving to avoid the pedestrian, the driver of the first car had hit a second vehicle. This was driven by someone who had been drinking alcohol and neither he nor his front seat passenger was wearing a seatbelt.

As Ashfield Fire Station manager Keith Elliott explained, the two people in the second car suffered more serious injuries than the first as a result of not wearing seatbelts. He also pointed out that the reactions of the driver had been slowed as a result of his drinking.

In reality, no-one was hurt in the Sutton incident. It had been planned and staged by Ashfield Community Safety Partnership to demonstrate the impact of some of the main causes of serious and fatal traffic collisions on Ashfield's roads.

Known as the "Fatal Four", the causes are driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, not wearing a seatbelt, speeding and using a mobile phone.

In the run-up to the event, public houses in Sutton displayed "fatal four" posters and flyers providing details were sent to schools and distributed by Catch-22, an organisation which runs activities for young people in the town.

The McDonald's restaurant on Priestic Road/Forest Street in the town handed leaflets out to customers using its drive-through facility.

The project was led by police Sgt Martin Severn and Keith Elliott with others involved including Ashfield District Council's Licensing Officer, the partnership's analyst, its PR officer, a police licensing officer, a representative of Catch-22 and a representative of Nottinghamshire County Council to assist with the road closure.

Street pastors from Hucknall attended throughout the exercise to provide support to anyone affected by it.