With one week to go before Project EDWARD starts, Kia is announced as vehicle partner with three Kia Soul EV cars loaned, primed and ready to cover around 1,000 miles each over the five day event.
Project EDWARD – Every Day Without A Road Death – will be sweeping through England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland this year to promote road safety between 13 and 17 September. Project EDWARD is supported by government, the emergency services, highways agencies, road safety organisations Soul Eand British businesses and promotes an evidence-led, ‘safe system’ approach – the long-term objective is a road traffic system free from death and serious injury.
The Kia Soul EV electric cars will be driven on different routes starting from Dundee, Cambridgeshire and Plymouth and all finishing in the Midlands. The drivers will be pitting their skills in an efficiency challenge and will showcase the best examples of safe road planning, post-crash response, design and engineering.
The Soul of Safety
With safety on the roads being the core of Project EDWARD, the Kia Soul EV features a full suite of active and passive safety systems:
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Active safety Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) Electronic Stability Control (ESC) Emergency Stop Signalling (ESS) Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist (FCA) Lane Keep Assist System (LKAS) Adaptive Smart Cruise Control (SCC) Lane Follow Assist (LFA) High Beam Assist (HBA) Blind Spot Detection (BSD) with Rear-Cross Traffic Assist (RCTA) Hill-start Assist Control (HAC) Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) Drive Mode Select (Eco, Eco+, Sport) Motor Driven Power Steering (MDPS) Driver Attention Warning (DAW) |
Passive safety Twin Front Airbags Front Passenger Airbag Cut-off Switch Twin Side Airbags (Front) Twin Curtain Airbags with Roll-over Sensor Knee Airbag (Driver) All-round Height Adjustable Head Rests ISOFIX Child Seat Top Tethers & Anchor Fixings Front Seatbelts Height Adjusters All-round 3-point Seatbelts Impact Sensing Auto Door Unlocking
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The Project EDWARD road trips will be stopping at multiple locations each day to share exciting content, knowledge, interviews and stories all linked to keeping those who drive for work safe.
Driving for Better Business is a long-term supporter of Project EDWARD and many of the projects being featured during the road trip relate to best practice management of work-related road risk. Contributions to this year’s campaign are lined up from Royal Mail, Waitrose and Openreach, as well as the HS2 construction supply chain. Plus, there will be demonstrations of a range of the latest collision avoidance technologies available for commercial vehicles in collaboration with Thatcham Research at an event in Kent for the launch of their Vision Zero road safety strategy.
Simon Turner, Campaign Manager for Driving for Better Business, says: “Project EDWARD is about the all-important safer vehicles as well as safer drivers, safer journeys and driver wellbeing, and about how best to manage those who drive for work in order to reduce risk, control costs and improve efficiency. Our aim is to provide a platform that shows some of the best work being done around the country.
“We are really grateful to Kia UK for supporting Project EDWARD 2021.”
John Hargreaves, General Manager Fleet and Remarketing at Kia UK Limited commented; “Road and occupant safety is of paramount importance to Kia not just within the UK but globally, and is a key aspect when designing and building all of our cars. The growing list of active and passive safety features available as standard ensures that all road users can remain safe on the roads. We are happy to support Project EDWARD in highlighting the importance of road safety across the UK.”
Other road trip partners are Webfleet Solutions that will provide a live tracking system so everyone can follow each car’s progress and efficiency at https://projectedward.org/; Gridserve is providing vehicle charging throughout the week; and Aura brand solutions has given the Kia Soul EVs their distinctive Project EDWARD branding. Each of the vehicles will be fitted with the latest high-definition dash cams from the programme’s prime sponsor, Nextbase dash cams.
Notes to editors
Photos attached: the three Kia Soul EV cars being used on the Project EDWARD road trip are collected by Simon Turner (by blue car) and Neil Barrett (by white car) of Project EDWARD from Kia UK’s head office at Walton-on-Thames.
The three cars will be travelling through England, Scotland and Wales with a week-long series of events to promote good practice road safety between 13 and 17 September. Northern Ireland is also included with a flying visit before the road trip commences.
Project EDWARD is backed by government, the emergency services, highways agencies, road safety organisations and British businesses and promotes an evidence-led, ‘safe system’ approach – the long-term objective of which is a road traffic system free from death and serious injury.
The white car will also be a centrepiece on show in the Driver Safety Zone, hosted by Driving for Better Business at the Health and Safety conference 7-9 September at the NEC Birmingham.
About Driving for Better Business
Driving for work is one of the highest-risk activities that many employees undertake, whether they drive a commercial vehicle, a company car or make occasional work journeys in their own vehicle. As the gig economy continues to grow, this also means those who ride for work as well as those who drive.
Driving for Better Business is a free to access government-backed Highways England programme, delivered in partnership with RoadSafe, to help employers in the private and public sectors reduce work-related road risk, protecting staff who drive or ride for work, and others who they may share the road with.
