Traffic officers go back to school for road safety education
It will be back to school for Highways England traffic officers next week as they visit pupils living alongside the A30 in Cornwall to hand out a few road safety lessons.
Traffic officers have been patrolling the busy holiday route as part of a trial this year, and now they’re extending their patrols to visit three primary schools.
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 children 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.
The traffic officers have been patrolling the A30 between Carland Cross and Liftondown and, based at Bodmin police station and Cornwall Council’s Castle Canyke depot during the peak holiday months, they have been much closer at hand to provide assistance along both the A30 and A38.
During the summer holiday period up to its conclusion on Monday (10 September), Highways England crews attended a total of 134 incidents, including live lane breakdowns, road traffic collisions and debris clearance. And on the last Sunday in July, the traffic officers’ ‘powers of recovery’ averted major disruption on the westbound A30 as they were able to assist police by towing a broken down horsebox and vehicle to safety at Okehampton Services.
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.
Josh Hodder, project manager of the A30 Chiverton to Carland Cross scheme, said:
“The traffic officers have had a great reception and we look forward to working with local schools to teach them more about the STEAM project and our work on the scheme.”
For any schools interested in receiving a STEAM visit, or learning more about Highways England’s work in the area, email A30ChivertontoCarlandCross@highwaysengland.co.uk
View more information on the roles and responsibilities of a Highways England traffic officer.
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