The moment the driver who just can’t wait turns onto the wrong side of the road to bypass the protest on Birmingham’s safer streets

This is the shocking moment an impatient driver swerved into oncoming traffic to avoid road safety protesters. Better Streets for Birmingham protesters took to a busy city center road in an urgent call for action after three deaths in just five days.

Carrying signs like “No More Deaths,” they lined up on Old Snow Hill during the green light for pedestrians at 30-second intervals. Drivers in front of the traffic were spoken to by stewards and told they would not block the road or disrupt the driver’s plans.

The demonstration at lunchtime yesterday, Saturday 27 July, was largely peaceful, but tensions flared as drivers in the queue honked their horns and another driver on the road who said they were taking a child to hospital became enraged: ” You’d better move.” Later in the demonstration, a video captured shock as a driver put lives at risk on the wrong side of the road.

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The images above show protesters holding traffic stop signs at a red light. As I stand on the road, a driver in a black car can be seen crossing the opposite side of the carriageway and up the lane towards Great Charles Street Queensway.

As the dangerous maneuver was spotted, one protester warned that the roads would be completely closed if another fatality occurred. They can be heard saying: “Roads will be closed if one more person is killed.”

A driver could also be heard honking. The protest came as the problem was described as a “crisis on Birmingham’s roads” and Better Streets for Birmingham called for a state of emergency due to the number of tragedies.

In a speech before the protest, group chairman Mat MacDonald said: “It is with sadness, pain and heartbreaking eloquence that we learn of another collision, another death, another void left forever on the streets of our city. a few hundred meters from where we are standing now.

“And so we’re here today asking, how much longer does this have to go on? What will it take for our leaders to act instead of playing political games while we die in the streets like dogs? Because we know that it is possible to prevent deaths and serious collisions on our roads, and that is why we are gathered here today.

“We are here to send a message to our leaders, loud and clear. We do not accept this status quo, we do not accept one of us dying a violent, sudden and irreparable death every two weeks on our city’s roads. We will no longer accept excuses why things cannot change”.

Have you been affected by Birmingham’s road crisis? We would like to hear from you. You can contact us via email [email protected]