Road Safety Poster Competition

Road safety poster competition highlights the dangers of distraction to primary pupils

‘DON’T be distracted and stay safe on our roads’, is the theme of a new ‘design a school banner’ competition being organised by the region’s largest law firm to mark national Child Safety Week.

To coincide with the week, which starts today (Monday, June 4th), Wilkin Chapman solicitors has joined forces with the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership, Safer Roads Humber and the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance to launch the competition.

The firm, with offices in Lincoln, Louth, Horncastle and Alford, as well as Grimsby and Beverley, wants primary school children to design a road safety banner. The competition will aim to get children thinking about distractions whilst walking to school, which could cause danger.

The winning design will receive 60 high vis jackets (20 of three different sizes) for their school and see their banner design printed onto canvas to be displayed at their school. All the entries will be put on a YouTube channel.

Entries are open to primary schools in the LN postcode area and will be judged by Wilkin Chapman Partner, Steve Hennegan; John Siddle, of the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership and Faye Nam, Community Fundraiser at the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance.

Launching the competition, Steve said: “With offices in the centre of Lincoln and Grimsby as well as the surrounding Wolds and extending out into Beverley as well as Hull, Wilkin Chapman is keen to promote children’s road safety in both urban and more rural areas.

 “As solicitors that have sadly dealt with numerous child related accidents, we are acutely aware of the terrible impact that these accidents have on individuals and families and would want to be pro-active in helping to grow awareness of safety and prevention,” added Steve.

In the Lincolnshire police area, 2017 saw a total of 1,911 road collisions. Of those, 49 were fatal, with 519 people seriously injured.

Welcoming the school banner competition, John Siddle of the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership, said: “Whilst many injury collisions can have a devastating impact on families it is often more harrowing when these collisions involve children and this is why we have to teach our children the fundamentals of road safety, make sure they recognise the dangers and ensure that they are not distracted from being safe when walking, riding pedal cycles or acting as a passenger in vehicles.”

Faye Nam, added: “It is great to be able to get on board with this fantastic competition. As a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service operating within Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, we see all too well the devastating result of road traffic collisions, involving both adults and children. Any initiative that encourages road safety is definitely a worthwhile thing.”

Primary schools across Lincolnshire can make one entry per school, with a deadline of Friday, June 29 to submit a design.

The theme should be ‘distraction’ – as an example, young people using earphones, mobile phones, listening to music, texting, or simply messing around with friends and not paying attention to their surroundings.  The everyday distractions along with the hazards on the road should provoke some great debates between the children in deciding what should be on their banners.

The design itself should easily fit onto an exterior PVC banner which is approx. three metres wide and just under a metre high/deep. Please email  Jessica.Thrasher-Wood@wilkinchapman.co.uk for a pack.