Road Safety Competition
Written by author on March 11, 2011
Each year police and road safety officers carry out a variety of road safety talks to pupils within primary schools across Dumfries and Galloway. During the rounds of talks pupils are reminded of a number of ways to keep themselves safe and be seen when they are out and about on roads in Dumfries and Galloway. As a follow up to these talks pupils in upper school classes have been invited to think carefully about road safety and were tasked with designing a poster or leaflet to encourage the whole community to think about being a safe road user.
The children were given a number of themes to cover, including the wearing of seat belts, being seen or high visibility, drink driving and the use of mobile phones whilst driving. The choice of subject was varied.
Using a mobile telephone whilst driving has been a factor in many road traffic collisions. This applies to pedestrian’s and driver’s alike in a vulnerable teenage age group. The distraction of making a phone call or texting while on the move can be potentially fatal. So, using this as a theme gave the children an opportunity to create a message to discourage using them at inappropriate times.
It is hoped that by using a child’s perspective on these subjects the safety message will be refreshed and remembered not only by their peers but by the whole community.
The Police received a large number of posters of a very high standard which covered a variety of subjects and the winners were picked . One poster in particular, designed by Finlay Fergusson, 11 years, a pupil at Sandhead School had a very relevant message to pass on to the farming community and was a worthy winner
“Don’t talk on the phone while driving” depicted a driver on the mobile whilst driving a tractor . The winning child has a farming background and was aware that during the busy period of spring / summer he sees drivers of agricultural vehicles on the public roads of Dumfries and Galloway talking on there phones. The penalty for this type offence is 3 points on your licence and a sixty pounds fine.
The winning poster has now been developed by the police for use across Dumfries and Galloway to get the message out about the dangers of using a mobile phone when driving.
