Welcome to Road Safety Wales
17/4/09
A general training session was recently held for all the School Crossing Patrollers in Monmouthshire. This was the first time in over 20 years that an event like this has been held, but it was a great success.
As Monmouthshire covers such a vast area, it is sometimes easy for the patrols to forget that they are part of a team. The main purpose of the meeting was for the patrols to meet each other and meet the team that supports them, from both Monmouthshire County Council and Capita Symonds Road Safety Team, in the valuable but often dangerous job they do. It also gave the patrols an opportunity to talk with each other about issues they have at their own sites, and exchange experiences and ideas.
Refresher training was also provided during the session, and the patrols were provided with a few things to take away from the morning.
School Crossing Patrols are often dismissed as unimportant, however, the two hour session provided a morale boost to all present, and although several of the patrols were quite nervous about it, all concerned are looking forward to this becoming an annual event.
4/3/05
Caerphilly county borough council has become the first local authority in Wales to introduce new eye-catching uniforms for school crossing patrols as part of a major drive to keep children safe outside the school gates.
The new uniforms were unveiled at a special road safety seminar held at Llancaiach Fawr Manor House recently. The patrols play a key role in ensuring schoolchildren cross the road safely and the colourful new uniforms will make staff clearly visible to motorists in all weathers.
At the event a special long service award was presented to Mrs Margaret Horton from Penpedairheol and Mrs Jane Dowell from Ystrad Mynach for their 25 years service as popular school crossing patrol wardens.
"Our crossing patrols do a sterling job in the community and I'd like to thank them all for their continuing commitment and enthusiasm. There are a few vacancies around the county borough for new wardens so if anyone is interested in carrying out this very rewarding job we would love to hear from you" said Leader of Council, Cllr Harry Andrews.
Cllr Andrews added, "The safety of local children is of paramount importance and these new measures will hopefully help cut road traffic accidents as well as reducing congestion problems caused during the school run. Unfortunately there is still a minority of motorists who put lives at risk by parking in an inappropriate manner outside school gates or by travelling at high speeds in these areas. These are the people we intend to target through this new campaign."
These road safety initiatives, together with other effective schemes such as Kerbcraft, Megadrive, the 'Mrs Tufty' Roadshow, Walking Buses and School Transport Plans are making a real impact on improving road safety in the Caerphilly county borough.
The authority's road safety team has also unveiled a number of initiatives to help reduce accidents and ease congestion on the roads around local schools. New 'no stopping' orders are being made at schools across the county borough and banners will also be erected warning motorists to stay off the 'Keep Clear' markings.
For more information about road safety issues contact 01495 235250
