• Home
• Emergency Services
  • Police
  • Ambulance
  • Fire
  • Bike
• Highway Users
  • Recovery
  • Utilities/Agencies
  • Commercial Vehicles/Vans
• Materials
• About Us
• News
• Contact Us

Pupils to benefit from new road safety initiative

19th March 2008

A new scheme being backed by Sussex Police will help school children to stay safe. Officers from the Sussex Road Policing Unit's Casualty Reduction Team have teamed up with schools liaison officers and a local design company to promote safer road use amongst primary school children.

Bluelite Graphics are the company that produce the highly visible markings that make emergency service vehicles stand out on the road. They supply both Sussex Police and the local Fire and Rescue Services, as well as the South East Coast Ambulance service and many other emergency services both in the UK and abroad.

Bluelite have already teamed up with the Casualty Reduction Team in the past, by providing the distinctive markings for the Honda Fireblade motorcycle and Lotus Exige sportscar which were used to great effect at a number of public education events.he company has now come up with the innovative idea of re-using their off-cut material, which would normally have been placed in a skip and destroyed, as reflective graphics which can be handed out at primary schools and used to educate pupils about road safety.

The reflective graphics can be displayed on items such as school bags and bikes to make the children more visible when they're travelling to and from school.

The first batch of reflective material has already been supplied to Little Ridge School in Hastings, who have been working to produce some designs to put on their bicycles and bags. Children from Rye's Freda Gardham school are now set to benefit from the scheme.

Sergeant Paul Masterson, Sussex Road Policing Casualty Reduction Officer, said:

"We're always looking for new and interesting ways to get across important road safety messages. The material has a practical use in that it can be used to make children easier to see when they're on the roads. However, it's also an excellent way to engage with children and talk to them about road safety issues."

"The great thing is that it would only have been thrown away anyway, so it doesn't cost a penny and is environmentally friendly as well. Any schools interested in obtaining the material should contact their local Schools Officer or County Road Safety Officer."