A State of Emergency: Protesting at Old Snow Hill

Filed under: Be Bold, Birmingham / Campaign

Birmingham roads are more dangerous than they’ve ever been. Looking at the in-year statistics on reported road casualties provided by The Department for Transport (DfT), it is clear Birmingham has a spiralling road safety issue. The DfT has reported provisionally that, in 2023, there were 479 people who were Killed or Seriously Injured (KSI) (GOV.uk, 2024) in Birmingham. This is data which has been on the steady increase. The DfT confirms that in 2020 there were 343 KSIs; in 2021 there were 390; and in 2022 there were 448. In each year, there has been an average increase of 11.8% in the amount of people killed or seriously injured. Granted, the year of 2020 saw pandemic conditions and road usage was drastically reduced. But other cities, such as Manchester, have shown a handle on KSIs with the return to normal road usage: in 2020 there were 110 KSIs; 2021 increased to 188; yet, 2022 dropped to 184 KSIs; then, a slight increase to 192 KSIs. The comparison becomes deeply unnerving for residents of Birmingham. Whilst other areas have stabilised the amount of KSIs, even lowering figures, Birmingham is getting worse.

Source

Department for Transport. (2024) GOV.uk., URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/ras45-quarterly-statistics. Accessed: 30th July 2024.

Better Streets for Birmingham (BsfB) is fighting against the increasing danger associated with travelling through Birmingham, and it is continually working with communities to respond to preventable tragedies which take place on their roads. In Highgate, BsfB worked with the parents of Mayar Yahia, a four year old child killed whilst walking home with her mother, to gather a community against road based violence, coming together to mourn the preventable taking of this young life, but also demand the implementation of better road infrastructure to prevent it ever happening again.

Further reading on the reporting of the Mayar Yahia case

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czkv3p9x74xo

The demonstration captured the dignified anger and grief of a close community, with many of Mayar’s friends and peers taking to the microphone to describe their sense of injustice and loss with powerful eloquence. But barely had the banners been put away before the tragedy continued. The very next day, Sunday 21st July, a pedestrian in his 60s was killed in a collision on Great Hampton Street in the Jewellery Quarter.

Great Hampton Street reports

https://wmas.nhs.uk/2024/07/22/fatal-rtc-in-birmingham-10/
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/it-could-been-any-us-29587804

But even as we planned our next demonstration, there was more tragic news on Birmingham streets. On Friday 26th July, a man died after a collision involving two pedestrians and a car at the junction of Boldmere Road and Redacre Road in Sutton Coldfield. And, hours later, a man died and two were hospitalised after a Road Traffic Collision in Yardley, Birmingham. Our roads have hit emergency status. Three dead in the space of five days. We published an open letter to the council making ten demands to better improve the condition of our streets and strongly reduce the likelihood of human fatalities which are currently so frequent. The letter can be read on our website here and it sparked much needed response from councillors, local government officials and West Midlands police. We have since made a statement responding to their communications on the open letter and extreme loss of life. Our statement of response, along with directory to the claims of councillors, can be found here. Although it is ratifying to see such statements, Better Streets for Birmingham simply will not accept more false promises on action. We need meetings with councillors and local government to create a concrete timetable for action to which our leaders can be held accountable.

Reports on the incidents occurring Friday 26th July

https://wmas.nhs.uk/2024/07/26/pedestrian-fatally-injured-in-sutton-rtc/
https://wmas.nhs.uk/2024/07/26/one-dies-and-two-to-hospital-after-birmingham-rtc/
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/boldmere-road-crash-tragedy-man-29615726

We will achieve safer streets for the residents of Birmingham, or we will continue to take to the streets. Our demonstration on Saturday 27th July was an example of the results our community can achieve through collective action. The meeting place was the junction of Old Snow Hill and William Booth Lane, and Birmingham residents and community members from across the city congregated. We shared remorse for those lost; we shared fear of what could happen in the future if nothing is done; we showed union in standing against road violence and political absenteeism.

Mat MacDonald, the Chairman of BsfB gave a speech at midday and the purpose was clear: to demand better safety for ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities. We took our protest onto the road, using the pedestrian signal to enter the crossing when permissible and display our signage, allowing those behind the wheel and those watching through the onlooking press to reconsider the importance of recent events and reposition street safety as an essential agenda for contemporary Birmingham. BsfB members marshalled whilst the crowd was in the road, explaining the reason for the hold up to drivers at the lights, emphasising that the traveller could be on their way very shortly.

Let us be clear: BsfB is not anti-car, nor is it ever going to permanently stop any individual from making a planned journey which they are entitled to. We must, however, exercise our right to protest to remind people that local government is failing them and that people dying in recent times is linked to a systemic issue here in Birmingham.

At the action we witnessed first hand the behaviour of some drivers which can cause such a danger to Birmingham residents. A taxi drove over the central reservation to make an illegal u-turn. Another driver took his sports car onto the other side of the road to avoid the delay and drove up towards oncoming traffic, endangering his life, the drivers of oncoming traffic and the lives of any pedestrians using the crossing on that side. Another driver tried to manoeuvre his vehicle intot he people standing on the crossing before getting our and threatening the group, saying he was on his way to a hospital appointment. We cleared the crossing within a few seconds of this exchange to defuse the tension.

These events are just a glimpse of the dangers and violence perpetrated on our roads every day. Spaces which are supposed to be safe, such as pavements and central reservations, can be run over and destroyed. The direction of traffic flow can be illegally disregarded with no consequence. People are not safe on Birmingham’s streets, and it is reaching breaking point.

As we look forward to the next few months, however, we can be inspired by the fact that hundreds of us from across this city and its dazzling array of different communities have come together to call time on this problem, and to agitate for a city which puts its people first. The response to our open letter has been very welcome, with the declaration of a road emergency and the establishment of gold command meetings to manage the immediate issues facing our roads. We urgently need to see the same level of action when it comes to infrastructure too, with clear timetables for when our streets will be made physically safer for all who use them, and a coherent plan for how this will be resourced.

Make no mistake, none of this would have happened without all the people who have become so fed up with the daily dangers they face from car excess and anti-social driving in their own communities that they have given their time and energy to stand on our roads and bring attention to this issue. And together, we will continue in this struggle, our voice growing ever louder and stronger, until we ensure that those in power finally change our streets for the better, creating a city we can be proud to call our home.

The Great Hampton Street demonstration was captured by the press and further reading can be found below by clicking on the names of the sources: The BBC; Birmingham Mail; GB News;