NOTTINGHAMSHIRE County Council has been presented with a prestigious road safety award by HRH Prince Michael of Kent.

The Council received the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award at a ceremony on London for its casualty reduction scheme on the A614.

The scheme was implemented to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on the A614 – one of the county’s busiest roads.

Completed in early 2012, a two-stage speed management strategy for the road resulted in the lowering of the speed limit from 60mph to 50mph in 2011 and the installation of average speed cameras in early 2012.

Following the introduction of these measures, casualties overall have reduced by more than 54%.

The numbers of people being seriously injured has been reduced by almost 50% and — most significantly — there have been no fatalities.

The Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards are presented to organisations in recognition of their outstanding contribution to improving road safety.

“This is brilliant news and is all down to the hard work and dedication of the highways safety team, all of whom should be congratulated,” said Coun Kevin Greaves, chairman of the County Council’s transport and highways committee.

“Road safety is of enormous importance to an authority like ours with such a huge roads network, much of it in rural areas.”

Adrian Walsh, director of the Prince’s award scheme, said: “Reducing the risk to road users must be a top priority for any council. This well-managed strategic approach has successfully changed the behaviour of drivers with significant effect. It is an outstanding example which should be followed everywhere.”

The Prince Michael Award comes hot on the heels of the County Council winning Highway Magazine’s national award for Road Safety Project of the Year for the same scheme.

Earlier this year the County Council was recognised by the Institute of Advanced Motorists as “Best Performing Council” in reducing the number of those killed and seriously injured across all its roads.

Pictured are Suzanne Heydon, County Council group manager for highway safety; HRH Prince Michael of Kent; Sonya Hurt, County Council team manager for highway safety; Geoff Collins, sales and marketing director, traffic solutions company Vysionics.