School and individuals recognised in 2002 Wales Road Safety Awards

The Annual Welsh Road Safety Awards were presented by Sue Essex, the Welsh Assembly’s minister for the environment on 22 November at the Village Hotel, Cardiff.

The awards recognise good road safety practise, innovative projects and personal contributions being undertaken in Wales and publicises and raises awareness of the contributions being made towards road casualty reduction targets.

Three short-listed nominations in each category received awards and an overall winner in each category was announced at the ceremony.
Here are the nominations and winners in each category:

Schools Category
A tremendous amount of road safety work goes on in Welsh schools unannounced, but from time to time a school and its pupils become involved in specific road safety project work. The three short listed nominees in this category have been involved in such projects.

WINNER - AFON TAF HIGH SCHOOL
Afon Taf High School has worked extensively over the last year on a ‘Safe Routes to School’ project. After liasing with Merthyr Council, class 9Q set up working groups to put together a comprehensive presentation supporting the need for the development of a cycle trail leading to the school, and cycle shed provision at the school.

A video and CD-ROM containing a Powerpoint presentation were submitted to the Welsh Assembly, showing not only the depth of the research but also the commitment and consideration the pupils had given the project. Strong arguments were put forward for both the cycle trail and cycle shed provision, as well as a plan of action to combat any possible problems that might arise after the scheme had been completed. The bid proved to be successful and the authority will receive £71,000.00 to implement the ideas and suggestions put forward.

The pupils of class 9Q, the teachers and other bodies involved, all agree that they have gained by their experiences working on this project and feel there will be positive benefits for pupils of the school, their environment and the communities in which they live.

OTHER NOMINEES - EWLOE GREEN SCHOOL, FLINTSHIRE CC & PENLLERGAER PRIMARY SCHOOL, SWANSEA

Community Category
Many road safety initiatives are more successful when a number of partners work together. The Community Award category recognises the contribution of a number of agencies and groups who have become partners in the promotion of road safety.

WINNER - SMASHED
‘Smashed’ came about when students from Coleg Powys undertook a preliminary scoping survey to establish if there was an issue of drugs and driving in rural Wales, and to gain insight into the context in which it took place.

The findings indicated that this was an issue worth addressing and provided a basis for SMASHED – a theatre in education production developed and delivered by the college’s Armageddon Theatre.

The production toured local high schools and was supported by workshops. Following on from the presentation, research was undertaken to assess its impact in raising awareness of the risks of driving while impaired and to produce recommendations for future road safety and health promotion activity with young people in rural areas.

Subsequently a video of the production has been produced, a teaching pack is being developed and teaching training days are being organised to encourage teachers to fully use the material.

OTHER NOMINEES - ATS EUROMASTER & GWENT GROUP OF ADVANCED MOTORISTS

School Crossing Patrols Category
There are nearly 1,300 full time school crossing patrols working in Wales.

WINNER - LYNNE HUGHES
Lynne Hughes (left in pic) has been a school crossing patrol officer in Llantwit Major for 24 years. For the past four years she has been looking after the pupils who attend Eagleswell Primary School - not only in her role as a SCP but also as a valued helper within the school.

A very conscientious and caring SCP and grandmother, Lynne was approached by the infant teacher to visit the school on a voluntary basis to talk to the children about her role as SCP and to encourage good road safety practice. Proving popular with both the children and teaching staff her visits became more frequent and gradually Lynne’s role has evolved into an ‘almost’ member of staff.

Last year Eagleswell Infants School decided to adopt and provide the ‘Story sack’ scheme designed by Neil Griffiths. Each ‘sack’ is based on a story and contains the named book, characters, artefacts, a non-fictional book, relevant games or quizzes and a parent prompt.

Children are then encouraged to select a ‘sack’ to take home to read, and it is hoped that the contents of the bag will stimulate parents to spend quality time listening, reading and writing with their children.

Unfortunately no money was available to purchase these ‘bags’ so Lynne and her family embarked upon raising the £1,600.00 required to purchase the books and materials that constitute the 80 story sacks the school now has, and used her creative talents to produce 30 of these herself.

Conscious that this product could assist her in her role as SCP and also raise awareness of road safety, Lynne produced a ‘road safety sack’ entitled ‘Topsy and Tim Go Safely’. The contents of this sack are based on the Topsy and Tim story and include the necessary characters, a highway code book and street scene play mat, complete with traffic lights, police officer, SCP and vehicles.

If a problem then occurs with a pupil at her crossing, after consultation with the school and parents, the story sack is issued to the child as an educational tool - to reinforce the necessary road safety message. Furthermore, Lynne has also utilised old uniforms and produced ‘mini’ SCP outfits and ‘sticks’ for use by the infants’ department during play and road safety sessions.

OTHER NOMINEES - LYNDA GRIFFITHS & EILEEN CRABTREE

Individual Category
Road safety relies on committed volunteers to keep promoting road safety messages in places and situations that the ordinary road safety officer can’t always get to. They say that one volunteer is worth ten pressed men.

Winner - ARUNI SEN
Aruni has made presentations to all the students attending pre-driver courses since their inception in autumn 1999. He has put together a hard-hitting talk and speaks with great passion and real concern to try to avoid those in his audience ending up on his operating table.

He shows a collection of slides, prepared from his day-to-day work, to graphically illustrate the physical consequences of road crashes. Due to his unique experience in the A&E Dept, he is ideally placed to give empathetic support to the bereaved mother, as she too makes her talk – knowing exactly when it may be necessary to intervene.

His commitment this year already comprises over 10 bookings spaced at weekly intervals. He is desperately keen to extend the programme from the school environment to reach young drivers in local factories and businesses.

OTHER NOMINEES - TOM MURPHY & JONATHON SHEFFORD