Printer friendly page
DfT announces financial boost for cycling
Six towns in England will share in nearly £17 million to promote cycling, the DfT announced last week.
The new cycling demonstration towns - Brighton, Darlington, Derby, Exeter, Lancaster and Aylesbury - will lead the way in encouraging local people to use pedal power. The funds will be used to make the environment more cyclist friendly, and to offer safety training and promotion to encourage take up.
The towns will receive a total of £8.4 million government funding over three years and this investment will be matched by the local authority.
Welsh pupils enjoy Walk to School Week
Schoolchildren from two areas in Wales shared common ground recently during International Walk to School Week.
Rhosgoch Primary School in Powys celebrated the week with a decorated umbrella parade. 37 pupils walked to school accompanied by parents, teachers and county councillors.
"Walking is not only fun, it reduces stress, is healthy, it is non-polluting and it is a chance to teach and learn road safety skills," explains Sarah Morris , Powys' road safety project officer.
Over 6,000 children from 25 schools across Caerphilly county borough also ditched the car and walked to school.
The theme this year was Healthy Hearts , so children created displays and talked about reasons why walking to school is good for the body - and in particular the heart.
For further information contact Sarah Morris, sarah.morris@powys.gov.uk (Powys) , or Penny Thorpe (Caerphilly) on 01633 463376/07818 036935, or penny.thorpe@capita.co.uk
First Car rolled out across Berkshire
Unitary authorities in Berkshire are providing pre and young drivers with copies of a magazine that is produced by young people.
First Car is not overloaded with advertising, and road safety messages are underlined without being off putting to the target audience. The magazine is produced quarterly and will be distributed via schools, colleges, universities and other places where young people can be found in numbers.
"This is a wonderful resource for new drivers," said Tina Housego from Slough Borough Council. "I can see it developing into a very useful tool to get road safety information through to a difficult target audience. As it is produced by young people its impact will be greater that anything we 'oldies' could put together."
For more information contact Tina Housego, Tina.Housego@slough.gov.uk
Relax rules on safety cameras, group urges
The strict rules on the siting of safety cameras should be relaxed to prevent more deaths and injuries on roads, according to the Slower Speeds Initiative (Surveyor, 6 Oct).
The group has launched End the body counts , a campaign to influence a review of the DfT criteria for self-funding cameras operated by safety camera partnerships. Currently, four crashes involving death or serious injury must have occurred in a 1.5km stretch of road before a camera can be deployed.
Wider use would be justified on cost-benefit grounds, and would respond to community calls for protection from speeding drivers, the SSI argues.
Timely reminder from Roadsafe
With the imminent arrival of winter, Roadsafe is reminding motorists that bad weather and longer nights pose a danger to them.
Figures show that about 50% of all reported road traffic accidents at night occur in wet conditions - but only 10% of UK nights are wet.
In the run up to the end of British Summer Time on 30 October, Roadsafe has published a series of features highlighting the latest developments in vehicle and road safety technology.
It is also reminding drivers that falling asleep at the wheel accounts for up to 20% of crashes on motorways or similar roads, and as many as one in 10 of all crashes on Britain's roads.
For more information go to: http://www.roadsafe.com/roadsafe2/index.asp
Tell us what you think
The LARSOA website project team is inviting readers to put forward suggestions as to how the website could be further improved.
While the site continues to prove popular with road safety professionals, the team is keen not to let the grass grow under its feet. "We are achieving around 2200 homepage hits and 575 visitors each week, but we want to make sure the site continues to be as business useful as possible," explains Nick Rawlings , newsfeed editor. "That's why we are inviting our readers to suggest ways we can further improve the site."
The website is continually evolving and a number of enhancements will be made in the next few months. These include improvements to the search facility and news archive to make it easier to locate past news stories, and an informal competition for the most innovative road safety campaign or initiative each quarter.
The team is open to any other ideas regarding additional content or services that might be offered via the website. To put forward your suggestion(s) simply email
Nick Rawlings.
Bucks runs Megadrive
Buckinghamshire County Council's road safety team recently ran the Megadrive pre driver event.
Megadrive is designed to educate 16 and 17 year old prospective drivers about the responsibility of driving a vehicle - to give them a positive attitude before they get behind the wheel. The event also provides an opportunity for students to talk to organisations such as the Driving Standards Agency, Fire and Rescue Service, Thames Valley Police and the road safety team. The highlight for many of the students is the opportunity to drive a car, accompanied by an approved instructor.
For further information contact Anushka Desai on 01296 387187 or 07793 369879.
Chairman acknowledges road safety success
The Chairman of Hampshire's County Council recently held a reception to acknowledge road safety successes and achievements throughout the region.
Council members, councillors, cycle and pedestrian trainers, driving assessors and engineers were invited to celebrate at the Great Hall in Winchester.
Winter Mocktails were served to remind drivers that refreshing non-alcoholic alternatives are available.
"This was a great opportunity for all those who have contributed to Hampshire's road safety programmes to come together and celebrate their work as well as think of future campaigns and programmes," said Ernie Sage road safety services manager.
For more information contact Lyndsay Shearing on 01962 846887, or lyndsay.shearing@hants.gov.uk
Children receive cycling certificates
Children who took part in cycling training during the summer holiday period were presented with certificates recently by Bracknell Forest District Council.
Parents and siblings gathered at a local leisure centre to watch the director of environment and leisure present the certificates.
Some of the children also demonstrated reflective and fluorescent clothing that is currently being used in a poster campaign as part of Bracknell's conspicuity campaign.
For further information contact Chris Pickett , chris.pickett@bracknell-forest.gov.uk , or 01344 351212
