A year of Birmingham's road emergency and problems persist for residents
Ms Lyons explained it was not unusual to see motorists getting angry and said she believed the road was "very dangerous" due to the way people drove. "Cars come so fast down here," she said. "There are no speed bumps. "Nobody ever sticks to [the speed limit]. People go 20 [miles per hour] and somebody will just overtake them."
Husband and wife Amar and Sonal Mundada, both 41, agreed people were often not patient enough when driving on the city's roads. "When there is a red light I see cars driving rashly," said Mr Mundada. His spouse added: "There are already limits in place but speed cameras will help."
Mara Assad came to the UK from Iran almost five decades ago. She believed the standard of driving in the city had gone downhill and blamed those getting behind the wheel. "Maybe we need more traffic lights and zebra crossings," the 70-year-old said. "But it's not the council, it's people. They have to think. I don't blame the government or the council. It's the people."
A road safety emergency was declared by Birmingham City Council in July 2024 after a high number of serious and fatal crashes on the city's road network. More recently, the authority has adopted a road harm reduction strategy, which will see £10m put towards delivering an action plan on the issue. On Friday, campaigners will gather in Victoria Square to mark one year of the emergency and take part in a monthly protest ride around the city.Campaign group Better Streets for Birmingham said it "cautiously welcomed" recent statistics showing a reduction in deaths and serious injuries in the first half of 2025. But the group's chair Martin Price warned: "Declaring the road safety emergency was the easy part. "We now need to see policy and action plans turn into realities."
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