East Dunbartonshire Pupils triumph in global road safety week competition

Date: 
Monday, 22 May, 2017

 

Road Safety Week Competition
Competition entries
Logan McDowell Westerton PS
Sarah McKee and Eva Glen St Joseph's PS
Maura Gillen St Joseph's PS
Beth McBain Clober PS
Olivia Duffy Clober PS

An impressive 41 pupils from six primary schools in East Dunbartonshire have received runner up and commended recognition in a Junior Road Safety Officer (JRSO) competition.

To support Global Road Safety Week 2017, hundreds of children throughout Scotland entered the competition to design a poster to highlight the dangers of speeding.

Now in its fourth year, the United Nations Global Road Safety Week runs from 8 to 14 May and seeks to raise awareness about the dangers of speeding through its #SlowDown campaign.

Pupils from JRSO participating primary schools were encouraged to get imaginative and enter the competition through their own choice of media.

A total of 616 pupils from 37 primary schools entered with a range of impressive and informative poster designs, including traditional hand drawn entrees to digitally created designs as well as some accompanied by a selfie.

Logan McDowell, primary 7/6 at Westerton Primary School, was awarded runner up position for his excellent design that carried a key message aiming to highlight the dangers of speeding.

St Joseph Primary School pupils Maura Gillen, primary seven, Sarah McKee and Eva Glen, both primary five, also received runner up position.

Pupils Olivia Duffy, primary two, and Beth McBain, primary six, of Clober Primary School completed the runner up list in East Dunbartonshire with creative and poignant designs urging road users to slow.

A further 38 commended entries were submitted by pupils from Baljaffray Primary School, Clober Primary School, Colquhoun Park Primary School, Mosshead Primary School, St Joseph’s, Primary School and Westerton Primary School.

The overall first prize went to five year old Isra Ahmed, a primary 1 pupil at Milton Primary School, South Lanarkshire, with her creative design that kept it simple yet impactful with the message: ‘Read the sign, take your time.’

Michael McDonnell, director of Road Safety Scotland, said: “The enthusiasm of young people and schools across the country never ceases to amaze me, and the quality of the submissions shows great imagination.  

“Hopefully, the underlying reasons for the competition and Global Road Safety Week will be brought home to the children and strike a chord with their teachers and parents. The road environment can be dangerous and inappropriate speed choice is a major factor in the type of injuries vulnerable people can suffer.

“JRSOs do a fantastic job of promoting road safety messages in their schools and it’s encouraging to see so many schools getting involved and putting Scotland on the global road safety map. A massive thank you and well done to all those involved.”

A further 26 runners up and 77 commendations were awarded to pupils from schools in Aberdeenshire, Midlothian, Moray, North Lanarkshire, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, West Dunbartonshire and West Lothian.

All schools who entered received a participation certificate.

For further information or to view the competition entrees, visit: jrsocompetition.com/competition-gallery-2017