Cornwall County Council’s Road Safety Unit has announced the winners of its road safety poster competition, with ten posters, designed by primary school aged children in Cornwall, being selected as the winning entries. The posters will go on to be used in campaigns to promote road safety messages in Cornwall during 2009.

The poster competition was launched in October as part of a focused multi agency approach designed to target casualties along the A3047, which links Camborne and Redruth avoiding the A30. Between January 1, 2002 and June 30, 2007 there were 285 casualties recorded along the A3047: one fatal, 23 serious and 206 slight. In addition to this there were 302 damage only incidents.

Children attending schools situated along, or near the A3047, were invited to design a road safety poster in a bid to get them to think about the safety issues which face road users in Cornwall.

Winners of the competition received a road safety pack filled with goodies including reflective stickers and armbands to increase their visibility as pedestrians and cyclists on the roads, and activity books to help increase their road safety knowledge through fun activities and puzzles.

Tamsin Ferris, road safety officer, road user awareness says: “We are really pleased with the response we received to our poster competition. We have 10 really good posters to use in campaigns to target different road user groups. By using posters which are designed by children I hope that they will help to effectively communicate vital road safety messages.”

The road safety messages which were highlighted on the winning posters included the following: Don’t race, slow your pace.

Be safe, be seen.

Keep your speed down.

No mobile phones when driving.

Never be on your mobile phone in the car.

Kill your speed.

Buckle up.

Stop, look, listen, think.

Speed kills.

Cyclists, be safe or sorry (wear your helmet).