FIGURES have revealed firefighters have attended 15% more road traffic incidents in recent months than during the same period last year.
The increase has sparked concerns for Staffordshire’s incoming Chief Fire Officer Glynn Luznyj – and he told Staffordshire Commissioner Ben Adams at a recent meeting that more needed to be done to educate road users.
Between October 2025 and March 2026, Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service attended 443 road traffic incidents, up from 383 in the same period last year.
Mr Luznyj said:
“It’s something I’m very aware of – if we look at previous quarters that 15.6% is definitely a concern and I think more needs to be done.
“From our perspective, we talk very openly with our firefighters to the response around road traffic collisions. I’m confident they have got the best training and they’ve got the best equipment.
“From my perspective, I’m very confident that our responding crews are going to get out there quickly and give the best chances of saving lives to anybody who is sadly caught up in a road collision.
“But it’s the upstream work I’m sharing a concern about because I think more needs to be done around the education, prevention, engineering solutions here because Staffordshire for a while has seen an increase in the numbers of road traffic collisions and – more concerningly – the number of people killed or seriously injured.”
The Commissioner replied:
“I’ve been chairing the Safer Roads Partnership and it’s been a priority since I got elected. It continues to be one of the top three things people will mention to me first as one of the concerns about their community – there’s seemingly more serious collisions, loss of lives or accidents.
“There’s always a balance to be struck, a picture behind the data. It’s not always speed, it can be competence, medical emergency, people having heart attacks or strokes.
“I think we need to look again, particularly where there’s concern around older drivers. People are living longer – which is great – whether they’re as confident on the road as they were when they were younger and there was a lot less traffic on the road and vehicles were half the weight, I’m not so sure.
“I know the police have introduced some opportunities. One of is for anybody who is stopped to take a course if they are a certain age which will evaluate are they safe to continue driving.
“I’m slightly nervous about some of the national moves rather than to look at that age spectrum and focus on younger drivers. I do agree education is important and there is a risk around younger drivers.
“But driving is a massive way to contribute to the economy, to yourself, to take on a job and perhaps support a family. There’s got to be a real careful balance here, not keep everybody off the road for ten years until they’re a little more mature.”
Commissioner Adams said that an education vacancy was due to be filled in the partnership.
This role would mean a return to schools to highlight dangerous routes and areas of high risk.
Mr Luznyj said the fire and rescue service could play a part in education and prevention too.
He added:
“I’m very conscious that fire deaths are low in numbers – sad as each one is – compared to the number of people who lose their lives on our roads.
“That’s where I think we can make a difference and I’m asking questions about the education. I think that needs to be driven by the data, evidence, emerging trends and what is going on in the roads in Staffordshire, why are we seeing what appears to be a sustained increase in the numbers.
“From our side we’re a little bit blind to the near-miss road traffic collisions because we tend to get mobilised to the worst ones where people are trapped and seriously injured.
“I think there’s an opportunity to look at the lower level ones and we can build a picture of what’s happening and that needs to play into the education part.
“That rescue element we can do really well. But how can we prevent people from needing that rescue in the first place and protect communities even better?”
