A HARD-HITTING campaign to cut the number of people killed or seriously injured on Kent’s roads by 40 per cent in the next two and a half years has been launched.

The £1.3million campaign aims to save 478 lives and will feature a series of hard-hitting and uncompromising television commercials, newspaper adverts and billboards - all aimed at encouraging drivers to be more responsible.

The first advert to be broadcast on television features a former Kent retained fireman, who was left paralysed after a car he was a passenger in went off the road and into a tree. Nick Packham, aged 33, who is now in a wheelchair, was saved by firefighters from his own station.

Under the slogan “It will cost you in the end,” county council chiefs hope the high-profile publicity drive will have a major impact in reducing deaths and serious injuries on the county’s roads. It will focus on discouraging speeding, drink driving and using mobile phones.

Figures show the number of serious road crashes in Kent is falling. Last year, there were 839 crashes involving deaths or serious injury but Kent County Council, the police and health trusts want to get the level even lower.

Cllr Graham Gibbens, the chairman of KCC’s Highways Board, said: “Far too many people are being killed or seriously injured on our roads. We are looking at a massive challenge. We cannot afford to underestimate the impact these accidents have not just on individuals but on their families, friends and colleagues.”

The campaign was deliberately intended to shock but will also highlight the costs to the taxpayer of dealing with road accidents.

Each fatality is estimated to cost £1.3million and in Kent, cutting the rate of serious crashes could save the emergency services and the NHS together as much as £215million.

To help the launch, children from three local Maidstone primary schools gathered outside county hall.

The number of crashes involving fatalities or serious injuries in Kent dropped by around 30 per cent in 2004, compared with the average between 1994-1998.

Of those 839, around one in ten were children.

Every fatal road crash costs the taxpayer around £1.3million, official statistics estimate.

In Kent, health chiefs estimate that it costs hospitals an average of £1,700 to look after each person involved in a road crash.