Welsh Ambulance Service Trust is backing national Road Safety Week 2020 and championing the use of a ground-breaking app.
Launched back in 2013 the What3Words app can help
emergency and recovery services locate you to within a three square metre
radius should an accident or breakdown occur on the highways – or in fact any
situation.
The app creators have mapped the entire planet and
sectioned it into three metre squares and each square has a unique three word
sequence attached to it.
Once activated, the app will source your exact
location and give you a three word sequence, ‘Wild – Coffee – Bike’ for example,
and even if you’re lost, quoting this to the emergency or recovery services
will allow them to pinpoint you and send help to exactly the right spot.
Kate Blackmore, Clinical Contact Centre Area
Manager for the Welsh Ambulance Service, said: “This Road Safety Week we would
urge people to download the What3Words app to their phones and always ensure
they travel with it.
“Should the worst happen out on the roads,
especially with Wales’ rural terrain, the app can help us and other emergency
services identify your location as quickly as possible through an easy to use
phrase.
“The app works anywhere in the world and in
multiple languages including Welsh, you can even find your current location
without a data connection, eliminating the panic of describing your location in
an emergency situation.”
Road Safety Week was founded in 1997 by Brake, the
road safety charity to promote steps everybody can take to stop needless
accidents and injuries on the UK’s roads.
This year’s theme is ‘No Need To Speed’ and someone
who knows all too well about the dangers of excessively fast motoring is Welsh
Ambulance Service paramedic and Clinical Team Leader, Dermot O’Leary.
Dermot runs the highly successful Deadly Impacts
road safety campaign in North Wales along with Police and Fire colleagues and
regularly visits schools and colleges to educate young people about the dangers
of speeding via workshops and lectures.
He said: “We are fully behind the 2020 Road Safety
Week message as excessive speed is number one in what we call the Fatal Five: Excessive speed, anti-social
driving, no seatbelts, drink or drug-driving and using a mobile phone whilst
driving.
“As the nights and
weather close in, driving conditions inevitably worsen and the risk of
accidents increases.
“We are always here,
but we don’t want to be seeing you in an unnecessary road accident, so stay
below the speed limit, keep your distance and check your vehicle is winter
ready.”
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