Northamptonshire’s Casualty Reduction Partnership is holding events across the county to highlight road safety issues, as part of the national campaign led by the road safety charity Brake.

Partnership staff marked the beginning of Road Safety Week with a presentation of a road safety play-kit to Junior Road Safety Officers at Blakesley Church of England Primary School. The play-kit includes road mats, mini traffic lights and a set of bibs representing different road users such as pedestrians, cars, cyclists and police officers. The kit also includes a story – Emily’s Walk To The Park – describing crossing the road in three different situations. The play-kit enables children to recreate situations they have listened to in the story.

The play-kit has been provided to the school for free by the Casualty Reduction Partnership, as part of the Rightracks rural road safety project. This is a trial project and if successful will be rolled out to the rest of the county.

Mary Barnett, head teacher at Blakesley Church of England Primary School, said: "This is the second year the school has taken part in the Junior Road Safety Officer scheme. This is a brilliant project for the children to be involved in as the roads are becoming increasingly busy and it’s very important for them to learn how to keep themselves safe."

The school’s Junior Road Safety Officers, George Noble and Bradley Tutin, who teach road safety to the rest of the school, said: "The play-kit will really help us with our road safety assemblies. The kit will help make learning about road safety more fun for the younger children."

Other events taking place throughout Road Safety Week include: