Signs all point to good road sense

Yellow posters stare out from lampposts and the sides of wheelie bins, warning motorists, in large, bold text, to slow down.

Others urge drivers to keep their seat belts on, and a third poster, featuring a photograph of a child, asks drivers to ‘please drive slowly – keep me safe.’ The youngsters in the photographs are not models, but real children from Atlas Community Primary School in Manningham. They are helping to get the message across as part of a hard-hitting initiative to reduce the number of road casualties, in particular children, in two Bradford wards where incidents are higher than in other parts of the district.

Between 2004 and 2009, there were 2,937 accidents in Bradford West – made up of Manningham and City wards – and a total of 4,506 casualties, 36 of them fatal.

In the period 2006 to 2008, the two wards had 75 and 100 child casualties respectively – the highest in the district. Around 80 per cent of wards across Bradford have less than 50.

Among the factors that contribute to the high number of casualties, is young children being left unsupervised or breaking free from parents near roads. Older children running into the road, particularly between parked cars is another, as is adult pedestrians crossing without looking.

Making use of existing programmes developed and used by the Council’s road safety team, the initiative – which is jointly funded by the Bradford West area co-ordinator’s office and the Government’s Road Safety Grant – builds up a close relationship with community groups and schools. It also targets parents, families and those who commute through or work in the area.

Community involvement is key to the its success, the idea being that once it is in place, local people will be able to continue to address the issues, recognise problems and know where to go for help.

“We are empowering the community to take ownership of the initiative,” says Sue Snoddy, casualty reduction and road safety partnership manager with Bradford Council. “We want to make them aware of the problems and put them in touch with the agencies that can help. Hopefully then they will be able to carry on with it themselves.”

Visits to primary schools have been made, with advice issued on how to stay safe, covering areas including road safety, seat belt wearing and pedestrian distractions.

Talks with parents have also taken place and door-to-door visits with Neighbourhood Wardens and the police have been carried out and leaflets distributed.

“We have visited around 650 residents so far and spoken to just over half. Most of them were very positive about tackling the problems, and many had their own stories to tell,” says Huma Boskani, senior road safety officer with Bradford Council.

A letter sent to residents in the wards urges parents to make sure they shut their garden gate to keep youngsters safe and that they are supervised, and, if the house has no garden, to watch them closely.

It also advises them to provide a cycling helmet for youngsters and stresses the importance of wearing seat belts.

“We are also offering to take parents out for a session of pedestrian training, pointing out the sort of things of which they need to be aware,” says Abid Iqbal, road safety assistant with Bradford Council.

A variety of agencies are involved in the initiative. “We have been working hard with the police, city engineers and other partners,” says Sue. “To properly address an issue like this it is essential to work in partnership.”

Plans for the near future include an exercise with the fire brigade in which a parent is removed from a smashed-up vehicle, and a publicity drive in the city centre.

Husna Khalifa, home-school liaison officer at Atlas Primary School, says the initiative has caught the attention of parents. “Because they know the children pictured on the posters, they have stopped and really taken notice.”

The initiative, which is half-way through and ends in March, could pave the way for further schemes in other parts of the district.