Doncaster pupils in national spotlight for work to make city roads safer

Mini police officers from Long Toft Primary School in Doncaster are raising awareness about speeding and inconsiderate parking outside their school to encourage parents and road users to take extra care.

The pupils, who participate in the South Yorkshire Police-run scheme, will be featured as part of a national roadshow promoting Project EDWARD (Every Day Without a Road Death).

Long Toft Primary School headteacher Alison Buxton said: “We are really excited to be part of Project EDWARD and show the rest of the country what we are doing here in Doncaster.

“Road safety is such an important issue for our pupils and we want all our families to feel safe as they travel to and from school.

“By getting the children involved, we hope it will highlight the dangers of speeding and irresponsible parking.

“We are asking our community to follow the speed limit and only park where it is safe and legal. By doing this, you will genuinely be saving lives.”

Launched in 2016, Project EDWARD’s aim is to raise awareness about road safety and ultimately stop all deaths and serious injuries caused by traffic collisions.

The visit to Doncaster forms part of an annual week of action (May 15 – 19) to showcase casualty reduction initiatives across the country.

Stopping off in South Yorkshire on Thursday 18 May, the team will also visit the Lifewise Centre in Hellaby, Rotherham, to see the road safety workshops delivered to all year six pupils across the county.

The sessions form part of South Yorkshire Police’s (SYP) Crucial Crew project where students are invited to a purpose-built film-set to take part in real-life scenarios around personal safety.

Community Safety manager Margaret Lawson said: “We are really proud of the interventions we run here at Lifewise and the feedback we get from schools is always very positive.

“Our interactive road safety scenario is aimed at pupils who are preparing to travel more independently to secondary school and looks at decision making as well as hazard awareness.

“We welcome the Project EDWARD team and are grateful to be able to show the rest of the UK the work that we are doing to help keep our young people safe.”

In 2021, 36 people lost their lives on South Yorkshire roads and 660 people were seriously injured. Children (aged 16 and under) accounted for 104 of those casualties seriously injured as the result of a collision.

To reduce fatal and serious road injuries (KSIs), the South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership (SYSRP) recently signed up to Vision Zero and the Safe System. As part of the new strategy, partners in the local authorities and emergency services have set a target of halving the number of KSIs on local roads by the year 2030 with an ultimate goal of eliminating all death and serious injury.

Chair of the SYSRP Strategic Board, Tom Finnegan-Smith said: “Our partners share Project EDWARD’s long-term objective of a road traffic system free from death and serious injury.

“We know that it is ambitious and will take a lot of hard work, but Vision Zero is the only acceptable target.

“Everyone deserves safe roads, and it is up to each and every one of us, whether we are engineers, educators, road users or enforcers, to play our part in preventing

collisions.

“The only way we will ever stop families suffering the pain of losing a loved one in a road traffic collision is by working together and sharing responsibility.”

To find out more about Project EDWARD visit: https://projectedward.org/2023- 2/about-project-edward/

To find out more about Mini Police or Crucial Crew visit: https://www.lifewise999.co.uk/