30 October 2006

LARSOA wins commendation in Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards

LARSOA, the Local Authority Road Safety Officers' Association, has been highly commended in the annual Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards.

The award is for the Association's road safety newsfeed which keeps road safety officers RSOs) across the UK abreast of the latest developments including campaigns, initiatives and examples of best practice.

Delivered via the LARSOA website at www.larsoa.org.uk , the newsfeed is an invaluable resource for RSOs which allows them to share good practice on successful campaigns that tackle issues such as speeding, wearing seat belts and safe driving and use them in their area.

The Department for Transport (DfT) recognised the value of the service, which has been running for four years, and now partners LARSOA in the project, using the newsfeed to advise RSOs of the latest developments in the THINK! road safety campaign.

Before LARSOA's initiative there was no single web-based media focusing on road safety. Simon Ettinghausen, chair of LARSOA, says: "The newsfeed has successfully plugged that gap and provides a single, easy to read, point of reference for road safety professionals.

"Local Authority road safety teams, the DfT's THINK! team, and other organisations provide details of projects and campaigns. This is gathered and edited to create short news items which can be quickly absorbed by the RSOs.

"Contact details are provided for those wanting further information and over 900 road safety professionals are sent an email reminder with a link to the newsfeed every week.

The facility also provides a messageboard for RSOs to swap ideas and seek advice and help from colleagues."

Presenting the Prince Michael International Road Safety Commendation to Mr Ettinghausen at LARSOA's plenary meeting on October 31 st at Crewe Alexandra Football Ground, awards scheme director Adrian Walsh said: "Delivering consistent, well crafted messages and effective public information programmes is essential for road safety - LARSOA's newsfeed has become an essential tool in this vital process."

Ends.

For media enquiries please call Alison Ferst on 01287 610404 or 07779 435794.

ABOUT LARSOA

• LARSOA is a national road safety organisation representing road safety officers (RSOs) employed in local government across the UK.

• LARSOA represents 185 of the 200 eligible local authorities across the UK, assisting RSOs to fulfil their statutory role to reduce the number and severity of road casualties through education, training and publicity programmes.

• LARSOA publishes an up-to-date round-up of road safety news from across the UK on its website www.larsoa.org.uk .

• LARSOA also aims to influence national debate - government policy and action together with public opinion. The association works to achieve national recognition for road safety issues, commissions research into behaviour which contributes to road collisions and develops national road safety campaigns.

• The association assists in identifying achievable national targets to reduce the number of collisions on the country's roads.