Press Release
Junior Road Safety - fun with a serious message
Primary pupils from across Shetland gathered this afternoon (Friday) at the Town Hall to mark the end of a year of hard work promoting road safety in Shetland’s schools.
At the event this afternoon, Junior Road Safety Officers (JRSOs) from 16 primary schools presented a mixture of power point presentations, animated films and live performances to their friends and peers, all with the message of staying safe on the road.
This year’s presentations included four animations from Whiteness Primary School about the importance of wearing seatbelts and the dangers of playing “Chicken” on the road. These films were very popular with the audience, with excellent sound effects and a surprise appearance by Postman Pat. Although the performances were comic, the message was very serious, with around 5000 children under 16 being killed or seriously injured on Britain’s roads each year.
Happy Hansel Primary School put on a short play about a young girl called Daisy who was riding her scooter without paying attention and was hit and killed by a car and Lindsay Garrick from Aith Primary School spoke about her trip to Edinburgh for the launch of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020. Lindsay’s poster was one of 10 winning designs selected to promote the event.
21 Primary Schools in Shetland have JRSOs. They are pupils from Primary 6 and Primary 7 who help to keep children in their schools safe by talking about road and cycle safety and by organising events and competitions.
Council Convener Sandy Cluness congratulated the JRSOs on their hard work and presented them all with certificates and goody bags. The Council’s Safety and Risk Manager Sandra Pearson also praised the children and said that their work would continue to influence others for years to come. She encouraged them to “keep the message going”, even though their year as a JRSO had come to an end.
The Council’s Road Safety Officer, Elaine Skinley who organised the event said:
“This is the highlight of the year for the JRSO’s and they are always very excited about presenting in the Town Hall.
“It is encouraging to see so many creative responses to the subject of road safety and I am sure that the children presenting today will carry those messages with them into later life”.