Highways England officers to teach road safety

Highways England traffic officers have targeted schools alongside the A30 in Cornwall to teach road safety lessons.

The crews are running two highways awareness days, visiting Blackwater Community Primary School and Chacewater Community Primary School near Truro on Wednesday, 19 September, and Goonhavern Primary School, near Perranporth, on Thursday, 20 September.

The traffic officers have been patrolling the busy holiday route of the A30 between Carland Cross and Liftondown during the peak holiday months,

The school pupils will get a chance to chat to the traffic officers about their jobs and will get to see first hand their patrol vehicle and the equipment used every day as they patrol England’s major A roads and motorways. Highways England’s trial initiative has seen traffic officers patrol the A30 in Cornwall for the first time during the bank holiday weekends and summer holiday season.

The aim of the initiative is to provide further assistance to motorists on the South West network, and extend the traffic officer service further south into Cornwall to continue an already close working partnership with Devon and Cornwall Police and Cornwall Council.

During the summer holiday period, Highways England crews attended a total of 134 incidents, including live lane breakdowns, road traffic collisions and debris clearance.

Rob Penney, South West Service Delivery Manager for Highways England, said: “The patrols have been really well received by both holiday makers and local residents.

“Following this initial trial period, the school visits are a great opportunity to meet local children and raise road safety awareness among this young audience.”

The highways awareness days will launch a longer-term STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) initiative run by Highways England’s A30 Chiverton to Carland Cross project team.

The schools’ outreach programme, which will run from October, is designed to engage children from four to 18 in fun, hands-on activities which will teach them more about the interesting work taking place as part of the dualling scheme.