Junior road safety officers on a role

Oct 20 2008

South Lanarkshire's army of Junior Road Safety Officers have been finding out exactly what their role entails at an information session held at Chatelherault Country Park.

Organised by the council's Road Safety Education, Training and Publicity Team, the session introduced the JRSOs to the work they will undertake and the skills required to get the road safety message across to fellow pupils from primary schools across South Lanarkshire.

Primary six or seven pupils are either interviewed or specially selected to hold the post of JRSO at their school for a period of one or two years.

As part of the national strategy for road safety education for schools in Scotland, the main duties of a JRSO are: maintaining a notice board; run competitions; highlight road safety campaigns; speak at assembly

Each JRSO was given a pack containing an activity book, year planner, pen and a lapel badge and other information and resources.

They will also be able to use the Safety Street CD Rom, a copy of which is held by all primary schools taking part in the JRSO scheme. The CD sees An the Alien landing on earth but is unaware of how to deal with the roads and stay safe. So it is down to Traffic Light Tam and Connie the Cone to show An how to do this via various activities (staged in difficulty to suit P1 through to P7).

Councillor John Murray, the chair of the council's Roads Safety Forum, said: "I am delighted that we have in place so many junior road safety officers for the school year. Most schools now have a junior road safety officer and if not it's easy for them to nominate someone.

"It was great to see how enthusiastic the young people were about their new roles and I am sure they are desperate to share their knowledge with their fellow pupils. I hope that by giving young people a passion for road safety at an early age we are providing them with knowledge that will last them a lifetime."