Awards recognise innovation and achievement in road safety
The 2002 Prince Michael Awards Ceremony was held at the Savoy Hotel, London on Tuesday 3 December in the presence of the Patron HRH Prince Michael of Kent KCVO.

The following 11 award winners were chosen from a particularly high standard of nominations:

Education and Training Award
POLICE SERVICE NORTHERN IRELAND – ‘It could be you’
‘It could be you’ is a hard-hitting presentation that demonstrates the dangers of bad driving. Fronted by a 25-year-old young man paralysed in a car accident, the story is told in turn by those involved in his rescue. These include the paramedic, a young police officer, a fire fighter and a surgeon. The ‘It could be you’ road show, has been staged in schools around the Province and is now being used in Southern Ireland.

Technology Award
SPECS –speed enforcement system
The digital speed camera developed by Speed Check Services Ltd (SPECS) obtained Home Office type approval in 2000. The camera is a major technological development over previous speed cameras and has proved successful in improving road safety and reducing casualties. SPECS cameras work in pairs and calculate the average speed of a car over a length that can be between 250m and 10km.

Motor Cycle Industries Award
Motor Vehicle and Road Users Course
90-ONE Education delivers Motor Vehicle and Road User Studies courses up to GCSE level to students throughout Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire as part of the school curriculum. Safe motorcycle riding and car driving are taught alongside a broad range of road safety topics, designed to prepare the students for the responsibilities they will face as motor vehicle users. Other notable features of the scheme are the academic successes and the innovative funding methods employed to ensure its long-term future.

International Award
FIAT
In 2001 Fiat strengthened its educational programme - reaching more than nine million students in Italy and over 13 million students in Brazil, and focusing on highway education. These programmes make young people aware of the importance of highway education through innovating and stimulating programmes and creating a new network of collaborative relationships to carry out localized programmes.

International Award
Insurance Corporation, British Columbia
ICBC is a Crown corporation established in 1973 to provide vehicle insurance for British Columbia’s motorists. Since 1994 ICBC’s road safety services division has taken a leading role in facilitating and financing the implementation of road safety engineering improvements, enhanced traffic enforcement and education and public awareness initiatives.

Special Award
Corporal Mickey McLean
Royal military police officer, Corporal Mickey McLean, received his award for sourcing and organising the distribution of Cats’ Eyes Reflectors to children in Kosovo. While stationed in Pristina he became acutely aware of the high incidence of child road accidents linked to the curfews. Road conditions were particularly hostile to pedestrians, with no street lighting. Mickey was put in contact with Nationwide who agreed to provide 20,000 reflectors. Corporal McLean became the first military personnel member to receive an award in PMIRSA’s fifteen-year history.

Special Award
Nationwide
Last year Nationwide distributed six million reflectors to around 23,500 primary schools - including independent and special needs schools and self-teaching groups - around the county. By wearing a reflector a child pedestrian can be visible at 150 meters with low beam headlights compared to only 30 meters without one - giving a driver five times the distance to react. The campaign has also supplied schools with teaching packs to support the importance of road safety and will continue until 2006.

Special Award
Driving Standards Agency – ‘What if?’
A lack of hazard perception skills relates directly to the potential for crashes. ‘What If?’ puts the viewer in the driving seat (or in the case of the motorbike version on the bike) and comprises a video and booklet aimed at all drivers, not only the novice driver. The resource is designed to be used in the home and is available through telephone sales and high street retailers.

Special Award
Driving Standards Agency - ‘Arrive Alive’
The DSA’s Arrive Alive school’s programme has been heralded a success in relating to young drivers and helping to reduce the number of new drivers involved in accidents. Since the launch of the programme in 1997 the DSA has trained 100 of its driving examiners to be presenters and co-ordinators who, along with video and OHP presentations, deliver important safety messages to schools, in partnership with road safety officers.

Special Award
Colin Pettener
Colin Pettener has done a tremendous amount of work towards road safety and particularly the conception and adoption of ANDISP-National Driver Improvement Schemes. As many as 80,000 drivers have been through the scheme, which is recognised by ACPO. This ensures a service that gives a motorist the opportunity to undertake training at a centre of their choice, usually near their home, irrespective of where an offence took place. It is now common practice for offenders who have their collision in one force area to be offered the choice of undertaking the course nearer to their home.

Special Award
Junior Traffic Wardens’ Scheme
Children ‘help’ official traffic wardens patrol the school boundaries and assist in explaining to offending motorists the dangers of parking near a school. Stephanie Richards, a senior traffic warden, first implemented the idea in 2001. The scheme is now a joint venture between South Wales Police Traffic Wardens, South Wales Police, Community Services Department, Cardiff County Council’s road safety unit and schools, parents and children.

For more information about the awards go to: http://www.roadsafe.com/roadsafe/PressReleases.asp?ref=89