A NEW campaign aimed at improving awareness on the roads and cutting the number of crashes has been launched by the Gloucestershire Road Safety Partnership.

Drivers, motorcyclists and cyclists are all being targeted in ‘The Invisibles’ campaign which highlights the issues of failing to look or failing to see when using the county’s roads.

Failing to look properly was reported in 45 per cent of all crashes across the UK in 2012 and it was the number one contributory factor in collisions in Gloucestershire.

It describes when the person did not properly look where they were going or they looked, but misinterpreted what they saw.

Statistics show that the group most likely to be killed or seriously injured in crashes are male motorcyclists and male cyclists aged between 20 and 49 years old.

And the fatality rate for motorcyclists is three times higher than a cyclist and 40 times higher than car drivers.

Will Windsor Clive, Cabinet member for fire, planning and infrastructure, said: “This is an important campaign which we hope will increase the awareness levels of all types of road users and cut the number of casualties on Gloucestershire’s roads in which someone failed to look.

“There are key messages which we want to get across to drivers, to motorcyclists and to cyclists as it is up to everyone to do what they can to ensure the roads are safe.”

Chris Harrison, Gloucestershire Road Safety Partnership’s Motorcycle Safety Co-ordinator, said: “There are a lot of precautions motorcyclists can take to stay safe but everyone using the roads has to play their part and look out for each other, no matter what form of transport they are using.

“It is important for motorcyclists in particular to position themselves so that they can be easily seen by drivers and so that they can increase their own visibility of the road and any potential, upcoming hazards.

“They should also give themselves enough space to react if something does go wrong so they can get out of harms way and always adapt to the weather conditions.”

The crashes are most likely to occur at urban road junctions in daylight during the hours people are travelling to work in the morning and on their journey home.

‘The Invisibles’ campaign runs until early September and in the coming weeks the council will be issuing more information with specifically targeted advice to help drivers, motorcyclists and cyclists remain safe.