Friday 7 May
12.00hrs
Pupils from a primary school in Kingswood were visited by
firefighters when they unveiled the winners of a drawing
competition.
A crew from Kingswood Fire Station has been working with three
local schools to design stickers for a child car safety
seat event taking place later this month. Children at St
Stephens Church of England Junior School, Our Lady of Lourdes
Primary School and Christchurch Church of England School were asked
to come up with ideas that promote the use of seatbelts and car
safety seats.
Five winners from the three schools will have their colourful
designs made into stickers, which will be handed out at a special
road safety event on Monday 24 May at Kingswood Fire Station. On
the day, qualified representatives from Mothercare and Britax will
be at the station checking child safety seats free of charge to
ensure they are fitted properly.
Firefighters will be on hand to offer advice on road safety and
members of South Gloucestershire Council’s Road Safety team will be
at the station carrying out eye tests for drivers.
Red Watch Manager at Kingswood Fire Station, Tony Wittcomb,
said: “We’ve had some great designs back from the three schools,
which showed the children have a really good awareness of the
importance of safety seats and seatbelt use.
“It wasn’t easy, but we’ve managed to pick five winners from the
schools who will see their stickers handed out at the child safety
seat event on Monday 24 May and displayed on our website.”
Previous checks carried out across the UK suggest that as many
as eight out of ten child seats aren’t fitted correctly – if
properly restrained a child is 90% less likely to be killed in a
collision.
WM Wittcomb added: “Unfortunately the figures speak for
themselves. As a parent you would never intentionally take risks
with your child’s safety, but not having a properly fitted safety
seat or not checking your kids are strapped in, places them at a
huge and unnecessary risk.
“Any member of the emergency services will tell you that dealing
with the aftermath of a road traffic collision that involves an
injury or a death to a child is one of the most difficult parts of
the job we do. Raising awareness of these issues is vital in
reducing the number of tragic incidents and the devastating effects
it has on families.”
You can open the images below to download the three winning
designs from St Stephen's Primary School.
For more information see the Road Safety
area of our website.