ROAD safety campaigners are today preparing to target football fans in a bid to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on the county's roads.

ROAD safety campaigners are today preparing to target football fans in a bid to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on the county's roads.

Bereaved mothers Bridget Wall and Liz Voysey, who are both volunteers with national road safety charity Brake, will be joined by officers from Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service before Ipswich Town's match with Barnsley on Saturday.

Statistics suggest that road crashes are the biggest killer of 15 to 24-year-olds and 94 per cent of those convicted of death by dangerous driving are men.

Because so many young men attend football matches, road safety campaigners feel Portman Road is an ideal place to try to get their message across.

Among those hitting the streets around the football ground will be sub-officer Marty Royal, who runs Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service's road safety courses RoadKill and Learn and Live - both of which are aimed at young drivers.

He said: “We are on the front line when it comes to road crashes and witness first-hand the horror and devastation they cause.

“But death and injury on the road can be prevented and our educational projects RoadKill and Learn and Live aim to help young drivers understand the risks of the road and become better and safer drivers for their own sake, the sake of their friends and other road users.”

Ms Wall and Ms Voysey will be helping to raise cash for Brake and will hand out tyre tread indicators and Sober Up guides which are packed with facts, figures and advice for drivers.

Ms Wall's son Adam, who was 24, was killed in a crash on the A47 near Wisbech when his motorbike was hit by a van

Ms Voysey's 19-year-old daughter Amy Upcraft was also killed on the A47 near Dereham when a lorry overtook a moped and hit her car.

She was not able to get out and another car hit her car and killed her.

Ms Wall said: “Too many young men think they are invincible and 'just another drink' or slightly bald tyres won't matter. They are wrong and we hope to get this message across to as many of the fans as possible.”

The campaigners will be outside the football ground on Saturday from 1pm to 3pm.

What do you think needs to be done to reduce the number of crashes on Suffolk's roads? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.

Department for Transport figures show that in the east of England in 2005, 101 drivers, passengers and motorcyclists aged between 15 and 25 were killed and 1,045 were seriously injured on the roads.

Road crashes are the biggest killer of 15 to 24-year-olds. One in eight car drivers (13 per cent) is under the age of 25, yet one in three drivers who died on the roads in 2005 (32pc) were in this age group.

In 2005, 1,297 people died and a further 11,535 were seriously injured in a crash involving a driver or rider aged 15 to 25. That's 35 deaths and serious injuries every day.