Introduction to our cause

Brake’s vision is that everyone moves in a safe and healthy way, as part of our normal day. A death or serious injury on a road is a rare and unusual event; and traffic does not impede us or poison our air.

Brake is the leading charity in the UK working for safe and healthy mobility and supporting people bereaved and injured in road crashes. In 2020, we celebrate our 25th anniversary. During the past 25 years, deaths on roads have fallen in the UK; but there are still five deaths every day and many more life-changing injuries such as paralysis and head injury. Worldwide, road crashes are now the biggest killer of people under the age of 30. Brake works to inspire, inform and engage people to stop the carnage, fear and pollution that also causes death from respiratory disease and deters people from cycling and walking and the health benefits that brings.

Administered from our head office in West Yorkshire (commutable by train directly from Leeds, York, Manchester), Brake has an extensive and life-saving programme of evidence-based, safe and healthy mobility projects in the UK, such as National Road Safety Week, aiming to inspire, inform and engage people in fighting for our cause and its solutions, such as cycle paths, pavements and 20mph speed limits. We target these projects at two key audiences in civil society:

• Families, schools and concerned communities;
• Employers operating vans, lorries and buses, or with staff who drive to work.

Working in partnership with organisations in other nations, Brake is extending projects to assist other countries with higher casualty rates (particularly low-income nations). Brake’s Global Fleet Champions programme promotes and awards fleet safety among employers operating vehicles in countries ranging from the UK to Kenya.

Brake also runs the UK’s National Road Victim Service, caring for bereaved and injured people’s emotional wellbeing and helping them through complex procedures such as court cases. This service includes: an accredited national helpline funded by government agencies; provision of information and advice for road crash victims; and events and training for professionals caring for them such as the police family liaison officers.

Brake has a public affairs and media team in London, speaking up for our cause within government and in the media.