Two individuals and two organisations have been named the 2023 winners of the Road Safety GB Awards, recognising their significant contribution to saving lives on the road.
The Road Safety GB Awards, which replaced the Lynda Chalker Awards in 2022, are presented in two categories:
- The Road Safety GB Achievement Award
- The Road Safety GB Corporate Award
The 2023 Road Safety GB Awards were presented at the National Road Safety Conference in the Cotswolds on 15 November.
Achievement Awards were presented to Mark Cartwright, head of commercial vehicle incident prevention at National Highways and Heidi Duffy MBE, who currently enjoys three posts: facilitator for the Shiny Side Up Partnership and the National Young Rider Forum – and traffic management officer for Nottinghamshire Police.
Two accolades were also handed out in the Corporate Award category, to FirstCar and The Road Safety Trust.
About the winners
Mark Cartwright, head of commercial vehicle incident prevention at National Highways
Mark Cartwright joined what was then Highways England in February 2020 to head up their Commercial Vehicle Incident Prevention Team (CVIPT).
The role of the CVIPT is to identify and develop programmes to reduce collisions on England’s Strategic Route Network involving commercial vehicles.
Prior to joining National Highways, Mark was with the Freight Transport Association for over 30 years where he latterly developed and managed their award-winning Van Excellence programme.
Heidi Duffy MBE, facilitator for the Shiny Side Up Partnership and the National Young Rider Forum – and traffic management officer for Nottinghamshire Police
Heidi Duffy MBE has enjoyed a long and varied career in road safety, starting from her service as a police officer, then road safety assistant with both Nottinghamshire and Nottingham City local road safety teams, followed by 16 years as road casualty reduction manager for Nottinghamshire Police, until retiring in 2017.
However, retirement was found to be lacklustre for Heidi who now enjoys three posts: facilitator for the Shiny Side Up Partnership and the National Young Rider Forum with Via East Midlands, and traffic management officer for Nottinghamshire Police.
Heidi was awarded an MBE for Services to Road Safety in 2015.
FirstCar
FirstCar has been publishing award-winning road safety education publications for almost two decades and each year, over 1.85 million new drivers come into contact with the FirstCar brand.
Since 2013, it has also published titles for cyclists, motorcyclists, older drivers and parents of new drivers too; all of which are tailored for use by road safety professionals as education and engagement resources.
Over the past few years, FirstCar has been producing high-quality film production and digital media projects, including the world’s first virtual reality crash car experience with Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service. Other recent digital projects include e-learning packages and engagement campaigns.
FirstCar also runs Young Driver Focus as well as the ICE Live event, which is aimed at those involved in community safety virtual reality. In 2019, FirstCar became the home of the Honest Truth road safety campaign.
The Road Safety Trust
The Road Safety Trust is an independent grant-giving trust supporting projects and research that make UK roads safer for all road users – pedestrians, cyclists, mobility scooter users, car drivers, lorry and van drivers, and motorcyclists.
It supports a variety of road safety initiatives through grants, with funding available towards projects that meet our grant criteria. Grants are available for up to two or three years, and these can range from £20,000 up to £500,000 depending on the funding round.
Since its establishment in 2014, it has awarded over £5 million to grantees. The grants have funded a mix of practical measures, research, dissemination and education.
The ultimate aim of its work is to make UK roads safer through the funding they are able to provide.
Congratulations to all the winners. All very much deserved!
Philippa Young
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