Lancashire children get the Right Start

Youngsters from schools in Hyndburn, Lancashire have been putting their best foot forward with a pedestrian training programme from Lancashire County Council.

The Council's Right Start programme is designed to give children practical experience of the traffic environment and to help them become safer pedestrians. To date, eight local schools have successfully delivered the programme.

"Right Start promotes road safety awareness at a young age and encourages children to become safer pedestrians," Anita Bailey, road safety adviser explained. "Working in partnership with primary schools and parents we can enable children to become safer pedestrians."

The programme consists of three stages - 'Let's Talk', 'Let's Do' and 'Let's Remember' - each involving a series of activities. As part of the programme schools receive free support including training for all approved trainers, pictorial aids and high visibility jackets, badges and certificates for children who complete each stage, route identification and initial risk assessment.

In total, Lancashire's Road Safety Group has helped to train over 22,000 schoolchildren through Right Start since it began in 1999. For more information contact Anita Bailey on 01772 534514 or visit www.lancashireroadsafety.co.uk.