New resource marks European Road Safety Day

A new interactive resource for school pupils in primary four to seven has been launched by South Lanarkshire Council's Road Safety team to mark European Road Safety Day.

"Sign the Route" will be made available to local schools and will make the children aware of road signs, their meaning and where they are located on the road network.

The knowledge gained should help benefit them as pedestrians, cyclists and future drivers.

It is hoped that the children will gain useful information from this project to enable them to cope with the ever-changing environment in our towns and cities.

The European Union has set itself the target to halve the number of fatalities on our roads - from 54,000 to 27,000 - between 2001 and 2010.

In order to raise awareness of local practices and to offer an opportunity to work together for safer roads in Europe, the Commission has established a European Road Safety Day .

This took place on Monday, October 13 and addressed the subject of "Road Safety in our Cities". The main event was in Paris, at the "Espace Grande Arche", in the business district of La Défense.

Chair of South Lanarkshire Council's Roads Safety Forum, Councillor John Murray, said: "This new resource is certain to be a big hit with primary school children who are that bit older.

"At that age they are perhaps becoming more adventurous and exploring more, perhaps on their bikes or on foot.

"It's extremely important that as the children get older they learn to recognise road signs and the warnings or information that they provide.

"The new resource does this in a fun yet informative way."