Published Thursday, 16th November 2017
After stiff competition, a local primary school student has been named as the winner of the ‘R&B Kids Safe’ road safety competition.
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council’s Parking Team has joined up with Sustrans, to run the competition and around 800 students have taken part across the borough. ‘R&B Kids Safe’ aimed to highlight the importance of road safety outside the school gates and promote healthier ways of travelling to and from school.
As part of the competition, students were given a lesson in safe driving and parking around schools and how they can encourage parents and guardians to do so when dropping them off. After the lesson students were asked to design a banner that promoted slow speeds and safe parking outside their school. The winning banner has been printed and gifted to the school in time for BRAKE road safety week. We can now reveal that the winner is Ryan Dutta from St Mary’s Preparatory and Choir School, Reigate.
In second place, an entry from Woodfields School, Redhill and third place went to Walton on the Hill Primary school.
Ryan was amazed when he first saw the banner and said “I’m really happy because I have achieved lots of in art competitions before, but this is my biggest prize yet!”
Executive member for Community Safety, Cllr Graham Knight said “We’re delighted that so many students have taken part in such a vital lesson and the competition entries were outstanding. We’re always working to highlight sensible driving and safe parking around schools within Reigate & Banstead and encouraging the children to spread the message is just one way to hope that it hits home.
“It was a very tough choice when deciding the winner and it did take some time! However, I’d like to congratulate Ryan on his winning entry. The design used bright colours and had an impressive graphic flare, which the panel loved.
“I’d like to thank those students who participated and their teachers for making the time to deliver the R&B Kids Safe lesson.”
Bike It Officer for Sustrans, Lal Chatfield also commented “Traffic congestion around schools is endangering children’s lives with the risk of accidents but also with the increase of air pollution. Choosing active travel to school is a great solution to combat these risks, it makes physical activity part of children’s daily routines, prepares them for learning plus it’s fun and sociable!”
After being presented with the banner, Ryan sat for a drink with Cllr Knight and had a chat about his bike!
You can find out more about the competition here.
