Keep your head and watch your favourite films for free

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With the summer disappearing fast behind us, and the dark autumn nights drawing in, roads are becoming increasingly dangerous for motorists and pedestrians alike and so the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability launches its annual Keep Your Head campaign.

The campaign, designed to encourage drivers to keep to speed limits and reduce accidents on the road, was created as 50% of patients in the hospital�s Severe Brain Injury Unit are there as a result of injuries that occurred on our roads.

As part of the Keep Your Head campaign, the hospital has launched a safe driving quiz giving you the chance to win a pass to Odeon Putney, allowing you to watch as many films as you like until the end of the year for free.

Yashoda Sutton, Head of Communications at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability says:

�At the Royal Hospital we see first hand just how devastating the consequences of road accidents can be, so this really is an issue we felt was important to highlight within the community.

Most people are unaware that seemingly small variations in speed can make a crucial difference in the event of an accident. If you hit a pedestrian at 35mph, you are twice as likely to kill them than if you were driving at 30mph.

James* was just 18 when a speeding car hit him on his way home from rugby practise. He was seriously injured and for many months showed no signs of awareness. At the Royal Hospital , specialist staff assessed James and realised he was conscious of his surroundings and could signal responses. Since then a combination of therapies have helped him make real progress. Speech and language therapists taught James to use a letter board to communicate with his family. They also helped him re-learn how to swallow, so he is no longer tube-fed and has begun eating again. The best news is that James' family can see his old personality returning.

 

The car that hit James was going at 55mph. If it had been travelling at 30mph, things may have been very different. Keep Your Head aims to see fewer families forced to live through these experiences. Your support can make a difference.

We hope that making figures like these known will encourage people to think about their driving speeds and help reduce the number of accidents on the roads of Wandsworth.�


*Please note names have been changed for patient confidentiality

September 20, 2005