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Stagecoach launches Aberdeenshire schools road safety initiative

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27/10/2009

  • Secondary pupils issued with credit-card sized flashcard torches
  • Transport group backs Council's 1Second1Life Bus Stop campaign

Every secondary school pupil in Aberdeenshire is being issued with a credit card-sized torch as part of an initiative to urge youngsters to stay safe travelling to and from school.

Transport group Stagecoach is supplying all 15,500 pupils at the region's 17 secondary schools with the free flashcards to support Aberdeenshire Council's drive to improve road safety.

More than 12,500 Aberdeenshire pupils travel to school by bus every day, with many others being transported by car, walking or cycling.

More child pedestrians are killed or seriously injured in Scotland than in the rest of the UK per head of the population. In September 2008, two young North-east school pupils were killed in separate incidents when they were hit by cars while crossing the road after getting off a school bus.

Earlier this year, Aberdeenshire Council launched a Bus Stop safety campaign that included an education resource pack and DVD for schools called 1 Second 1 Life.

Now Stagecoach is helping reinforce the safety message with the handy-sized torches. Small enough to be carried in a purse, wallet or pocket, the torches feature the 1 Second 1 Life safety message.

Bryony Chamberlain, Managing Director, Stagecoach Bluebird and Highlands, said: "The safety of our children is of paramount importance and the responsibility of every one of us. The risk of a child pedestrian being involved in an accident goes up when they start school and rises further when they move up to secondary school.

"We hope these pocket-sized torches will help reinforce the safety message to the thousands of secondary pupils who travel to school every day and give them something practical to be seen as we approach the darker winter months. Travelling by bus is an extremely safe way to get to school, but we can never take safety for granted."

Chairman of Aberdeenshire Council's Education, Learning and Leisure Committee, Richard Stroud, said: "We welcome this very practical step by Stagecoach to help make our young people safer, especially with the advent of the dark nights of winter. This will add to a comprehensive approach that we have to reduce risk and make youngsters more aware of their own safety.

"We see it as a key objective to make sure that our children are educated on all aspects of safe travel and these flash cards will complement the existing and developing suite of safety initiatives."

Chairman of the council's Infrastructure Services Committee, Peter Argyle, said: "This initiative reflects the continued partnership working with Stagecoach Group and other operators on road safety initiatives generally, and in particular on school transport. We're delighted to support this initiative and will continue to work to make school travel in Aberdeenshire as safe as possible."

Turriff Academy pupil Robyn Oldham, 15, died after being struck by a car in September 2008. Two weeks after Robyn's death, Fraserburgh Academy pupil Alexander Milne died after he was hit by a car just outside his home.

Stagecoach is one of the largest bus operators in the North-east of Scotland and the company's 335 buses carry more than 17 million passengers a year.

ENDS

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NOTES TO EDITORS

  • Stagecoach Group is a leading international public transport group, with extensive operations in the UK, United States and Canada. The company employs 30,000 people, and operates bus, coach, rail, and tram services.


  • Full details of the 1 Second 1 Life campaign are available at www.1second1life.co.uk. Launched by Aberdeenshire Council in association with Talisman Energy (UK) Ltd, it offers resources to schools highlight the potential risks when getting off school transport. The resource includes a DVD and supporting booklet. The DVD simultaneously looks at the last minute of a schoolboy's bus journey home, his mother last minute at home before she is told of the incident and the last minute of a car driver's journey before he is involved in the collision. It also contains footage of an interview with Carla Oldham, the mother of Robyn Oldham.
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