Unity Partnership Oldham

3 ‘til 7 project

Unity’s Road Safety team are implementing an innovative casualty reduction scheme targeting collision spots across Oldham Borough with a range of education initiatives. These are aimed at significantly reducing the number of child pedestrian casualties, especially occurring between the peak times of 3pm and 7pm.

The project is working closely with a range of partners to drive home the 3 ‘till 7 project messages and this includes:

•The Peshkar Theatre Company, who are delivering a hard-hitting road safety play to secondary school pupils

•Children’s centres educating young children, parents and carers

•Groundwork Trust consulting with residents

•Age Concern targeting grandparents and carers

The project provides child pedestrian training and ensures a variety of age groups are included in a series of education initiatives designed to inspire and interest. To ensure the initiative has maximum impact, it prioritises the region’s highest accident areas, identified through a cluster analysis.

“62 percent of child pedestrian accidents occur on weekdays between 3pm and 7pm. If a real difference is to be achieved, the pedestrian casualty data demonstrates the need to focus on this time period and the identified locations. This is an exciting and

innovative project for Oldham and we aim to make a real impact on reducing road casualty figures”, explains Julie Williams, Unity’s Senior Road Safety Officer.

The scheme engages young pedestrians in order to try and establish a pattern of out-of-school journeys they regularly make. New and innovative programmes of work have been devised and will be implemented to best suit the relevant age and demographics of that particular area.

All programmes of work are route specific and involve practical on-road training. This takes place at the accident locations and focuses on the most hazardous parts of the journey. In this way it addresses the root of the problem as well as educating children around wider road safety issues.