This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Juniors lead way on road safety
10/09/2002
A new scheme, which includes the appointment of Junior Road Safety Officers, is expected to play a major role in raising awareness about local road safety issues in schools across Scotland.
Although Junior Road Safety Officer (JRSO) schemes have been operating in Dumfries and Galloway, Fife and Lothian and Borders for several years, a national scheme will now cover the entire country.
Developed by the Scottish Road Safety Campaign (SRSC), Junior Road Safety Officers (JRSOs) are appointed from Primary 6 or 7. The children have to apply for the job, giving reasons why they feel they would be suitable for the role.
JRSOs are responsible for maintaining a road safety notice board, running competitions within the school and talking at assemblies or classes on road safety issues. They are fully supported by their local Road Safety Officer who supplies them with an information pack and various posters and leaflets.
Deputy Transport Minister Lewis Macdonald met with Junior Road Safety Officers from schools around Leith who were JUST starting their new role.
He also met children from St Ninian's Primary School in Stirling, who together with a senior designer from Standard Life were involved in the design and development of the road safety education resources used in the scheme.
Mr Macdonald said:
"The Junior Road Safety Officer scheme gets children directly involved in road safety issues, it allows them to highlight issues that affect them locally and raises awareness of road safety issues within their school and the wider community. It lets children tell adults what they would like, in terms of road safety education, rather than adults telling children what they need.
"Cutting the number of people who die on Scotland's roads each year is a key priority for the Scottish Executive. I am committed to achieving a reduction of 40% in the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads by 2010 and to halving the number of children killed and seriously injured.
"By encouraging greater interest in road safety, this scheme will help primary school children to use roads in a safer way. I hope that every primary school in Scotland will appoint Junior Road Safety Officers to help to increase the safety of young children. I believe the scheme will help to keep children safe as they progress through secondary school and into adult life."
Deputy Education Minister Nicol Stephen said:
"The Junior Road Safety Officer scheme encourages the children involved to learn about the importance of road safety in a fun way. They not only learn new skills but also take responsibility for sharing their knowledge with fellow pupils. The scheme will help children stay safe on Scotland's roads."
In conjunction with JRSOs from Lothian & Borders, Standard Life developed and produced 'Safety Street', an interactive CD-ROM, for use with the scheme.
SRSC were permitted to produce a copy of the CD-ROM for all Scottish primary schools. Standard Life has been the sponsor of the JRSO scheme with Lothian and Borders Police for the past 4 years.