The Wolverhampton-based pallet network, Pallet-Track, has teamed up with a local school to improve road safety awareness.
Caroline Green, chief executive at Pallet-Track, joined colleagues and secondary pupils at neighbouring school, The Khalsa Academy Wolverhampton on Millfields Road, for an interactive road safety activity designed to improve awareness around the challenges faced by HGV drivers.
The pallet network partnered with the Road Haulage Association (RHA) to deliver a visibility demonstration using an HGV cab and blind spot mats.
The interactive training session provided the students with the opportunity to sit in the driver’s seat to better understand the potential danger zones at the front, rear and sides of the vehicle where pedestrians and cyclists cannot be seen due to visibility restrictions.
Pupils also learnt about the daily challenges encountered by HGV drivers with a talk delivered by the RHA and an accompanying training video.
National figures from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) show that 1,200 children per month are injured in traffic related collisions that happen within 500m of a school, with almost half of accidents occurring between 3pm and 6pm.
The interactive activity was enthusiastically received by pupils and was organised as part of Pallet-Track’s ongoing safety drive, which has also included road safety awareness training for its staff.
Mr Dhillon, Assistant Principal for Behaviour and Attitudes at The Khalsa Academy, said: “The interactive workshop was well received by pupils and staff, who were able to identify the potential dangers around road safety and gain a better understanding of how larger vehicles operate on the road.
“Pupils were excited to ask questions and found the session to be really insightful, and were keen to discuss the topic further upon returning to the classroom.”
Caroline Green said: “Safety is our number one priority at Pallet-Track, and we are committed to working with the local community to increase knowledge around HGV visibility restrictions.
“I am pleased the event was so well received by the pupils, and I would like to thank the school for supporting us with this exercise and the team at the RHA for its help with creating an activity that had such a positive impact and was so well received.
“At Pallet-Track, we believe it is important to demonstrate the difficulties faced by HGV drivers and make road users, particularly young people and those who live close to our operations.”
Simon Priest, RHA area manager, said: “At the RHA, we believe there is nothing more important than keeping young people safe on our roads and giving them the knowledge to keep themselves safe on the journey to and from school.
“It was a well-received and productive day – we were delighted to be involved with Pallet-Track in delivering this life-saving training for local school pupils.”
For more information about Pallet-Track, visit www.pallet-track.co.uk.
