Sandwell children win road safety competition

Children from schools across the borough were invited to create a road safety character during the first national lockdown.

The winners have now been chosen and will be used in council road safety campaigns in the future.

Seven-year-old Harrison, who attends Blackheath Primary School, was one of the winners with Road Toad; while 10-year-old Dylan, who attends Yew Tree Primary School, in Great Barr, also won with his character Safety Hand.

Mr Roady created by 10-year-old Lorenzo from St Margaret's CE Primary School, in Great Barr, was also among the winners.

While 11-year-old Tyler who last academic year attended Ocker Hill Academy, in Tipton, won with Bertie the Belt Boy; and Effie, aged 10 years old, who attends Whitecrest Primary School, in Great Barr, also won with Chatty Mobile.

The winning pupils also received a £20 gift voucher for The Works, as well as an extra gift donated by the store in West Bromwich.

Councillor Jackie Taylor, Sandwell Council's cabinet member for sustainable transport, said: "The competition asked children to create road safety characters for us to use as part of lessons in schools and educating our communities.

“Raising awareness and promoting good road safety habits is vital to reducing the number of children and young people killed or seriously injured on our roads in Sandwell.

“We were delighted with the response and the number of entries that we received from all across the borough. Our engineers and road safety team had a difficult task choosing the five winning entries."

Sandwell Council's deputy leader, Councillor Maria Crompton, added: “Many congratulations to all our creative winners for their splendid characters.

“I would like to thank all of the children who took part for thinking about road safety. Please remember those important messages when travelling around our area.

“We’re looking forward to using these characters for our road safety campaigns in the coming months.”