Amey one of the UK’s leading public service partners has donated over 200 reflective clip on badges to local Oxfordshire schools to ensure children are noticed and visible when cycling and walking on Oxfordshire’s roads and pavements.
Amey, located on Oxford Science Park is working with Oxfordshire County Council’s Road Safety Team to support their ‘Footsteps’ and ‘Cycle Training’ programmes, in a bid to help reduce the number of cyclist and pedestrian fatalities. ‘Footsteps’ involves encouraging children to make their own choices and decisions about what they see and hear through questioning. Children are given practical training in a safe environment and as time goes on they get better at deciding what they have to do to keep safe in various traffic situations. The Cycle Training programme is a practical road based training scheme to develop cycle skills and behaviour for children aged 9 and over.
The schemes are offered free of charge to local schools and they have been extremely successful in the last couple of years especially leading to an increased number of cyclists in Oxfordshire. Research from Oxfordshire County Council shows that 21,000 cyclists ride in to or out of Oxford city centre each day. That compares with 53,000 cars, 5,000 buses, 1,000 motorbikes and 9,000 goods vehicles. Oxford has the second highest level of cycling in the UK.
Amey is donating the reflective clip on badges to both Windmill Primary School in Headington, that is delivering the footsteps programme and Orchard Meadow Primary School in Blackbird Leys who have signed up to the cycle training programme.
Keith Sexton Health, Safety and Environment Director at Amey comments; “Amey is proud to be working with the local community and supporting such worth while training programmes. Providing reflective material to local primary school children will ensure that as well as taking away knowledge and new skills from the training, they have a tangible product to further ensure their safety on roads and pavements in the region. Ensuring children feel safe at a young age while walking and cycling will hopefully encourage these practices to continue, ultimately reducing car usage and lowering emissions.”
Cllr Rodney Rose, the council’s cabinet member for transport said: “Keeping children safe on our roads and pavements is vitally important, especially during the dark winter months.”
ENDS