Children from St Gabriel’s Primary School in Blackburn are ready for Road Safety Week 2017
Published Monday 20 November 2017 at 14:15
Blackburn with Darwen is supporting Road Safety Week 2017, with a range of events and activities planned across the borough.
Road Safety Week, taking place from Monday, November 20 to Sunday, November 26 is the UK’s biggest road safety event and is coordinated by charity Brake and supported by the Department for Transport.
The theme for this year’s initiative is Speed Down Save Lives. In the UK speeding is still a major problem. It causes needless crashes, untold suffering and stops people living safe and healthy lives.
The Council’s children’s centres will host a range of activities throughout the week including: zebra crossing layouts and walks, PCSO visits and road safety talks, stranger danger talks and activities, safety walks, fire safety talks and activities, baby play with road safety activities and safety poster making.
Elsewhere, road safety risks will be placed into stark reality with a crashed car display in Blackburn Town Centre, near the Bus Station on Tuesday November 21 and in Darwen, near the market events area on Wednesday November 22. There will also be a car seat safety demonstration in both locations as well.
The Council and partners will also be using the week to reinforce the messages of its longstanding Sticky Hands campaign.
The campaign encourages parents and carers to hold their young children’s hands on the routes to and from school and nursery.
Councillor Maureen Bateson, Executive Member for Children’s Services, said:
I’m delighted to see the borough backing this vitally important national Road Safety Week. Community groups and children’s centres can help get vital messages out to families and young people and help make a big difference to their local community.
I’m pleased to see the messages around Sticky Hands still being enforced locally too to ensure the simplest road safety measure of all – holding hands – keeps more children safe on the streets of Blackburn with Darwen.
Councillor Mustafa Desai, Executive Member for Health and Adult Social Care, said:
Speeding remains a major problem in the UK. Not only does it put children’s lives at risk every single day but it prevents them from being able to walk and cycle safely in their communities.
We all live busy lives and there is often a temptation to speed up in the hope of saving time, where in fact we could be costing lives. That is why we’re encouraging everyone in Blackburn with Darwen to ‘Speed Down, Save Lives’ this Road Safety Week.