Truck awareness tackled at school
Howard Rose BEM
An award winning Business Manager looking to satisfy CSR and work with local businesses and show them how to build lasting relationships in the community.
Truck awareness tackled at school
Pupils at Balsall Common Primary School had a big shock when they came in to school recently when they found a 44 tonne truck on their playground.
Trucks and Child Safety (TACS) is an award winning, national road safety programme run by the DHL UK Foundation and employees of DHL The programme is designed to raise awareness of road safety and the dangers of heavy goods vehicles.
TACS demonstrators help children learn about road safety and the dangers of trucks including:
? What exactly the driver can or cannot see in the mirrors
? Truck dimensions
? How loud the engine is
? What and where the vehicle’s blind spots are
? How difficult it is for a driver whilst inside the cab to hear a child
? To stay well back particularly when a vehicle is turning left at a junction
? How children can stay safe around the vehicle and where to stand on the pavement
? What a child should do if their football runs under a truck.
Howard Rose BEM, C.S.T. Lead for Funding & Publicity said, “Young children need to understand how small they are in comparison to these huge trucks – and if a driver cannot see or hear them he won’t know if they are there. Even if we can avoid one child being killed or seriously injured on the roads by giving these TACS demonstrations then the whole thing is worth it.”
525 children took part in the exercise throughout the day but a further 220 children were able to visit the truck over lunch so as to get a real feel of the size and scale of the truck.
Emma Baker , H&S Support/Facilities, said “We had a fantastic day talking to approximately 500 children which was our biggest TACS challenge to date.
We were made to feel very welcome, and the children (and teaching staff!) were extremely well behaved. Seeing the fascination on all their faces when introduced to our 44 tonne lorry on their playground was a rewarding experience.
This was underlined upon completion of each demonstration. When asked what a blind spot is, where the blind spots are on a large vehicle and what is the safest thing to do if you find yourself in a blind spot, all the hands immediately went up in the air and the correct answers were given to us.
We are grateful to all at Balsall Common Primary School for allowing us to visit and deliver DHL’s safety message. It would be our pleasure to return in the future.”