Marshals for Road Safety Awareness Campaign
In the UK, our roads are relatively safe when compared to other European countries. That said, in the year ending June 2018, over 26,000 people were killed or seriously injured on our roads. There were 165,100 reported road casualties in all, a welcome 6% decrease on the previous year.
But these figures are still far too high. Our roads are increasingly busy and not just with cars but lorries, motorbikes and cyclists too. Many cities have also seen the electric scooter taking to the roads and pavements too.
As pedestrians, we too have a responsibility to make sure that when we cross the road that we do so safely. That means crossing at designated crossing places, waiting for the ‘green man’ and not taking chances or jaywalking, an act defined as crossing a road without regard for approaching traffic.
Stewards helping people stay safe on our roads!
We were involved in a recent campaign that focused on specific junctions. Our client hired six marshals for a duration of five days.
The problem: there had been recent changes at these junctions concerning traffic flow and light sequences. Although pedestrians and cyclists were aware, the client felt that people were not always approaching with care. This meant that there was a higher than average rate of pedestrians and cyclists being hit by vehicles.
The solution: the client decided to hire trained, experienced marshals to interact with pedestrians and cyclists to improve their use of the junctions in question.
The goal: to eliminate pedestrians and cyclists being hit by vehicles and to increase awareness of the changes in traffic flow.
Experienced Marshals
Handpicking six of our most experienced marshals, they were on hand throughout the five days and peak and off-peak times to talk with pedestrians, raising awareness of how the junctions had changed in recent weeks.
Whilst this sounds easy, not everyone is receptive to the message! This means our marshals needed to be confident and deliver the message clearly but quickly. People on their way to work or school don’t have time to chat during ‘rush hour’.
The client also realised that they needed to make the message memorable and they chose to do this with handing out 25,000 chocolates over the course of the five days.
As well as creating a positive impression with our marshals, the small chocolate token served as a further reminder during the day about the junction. It would also act as a prompt the next time they used the junction to be aware of the changes and to make sure they were able to cross the road safely.
The Road Safety Campaign Outcome
Our marshals spoke to hundreds of people over the course of the five days, making sure that they were aware of the changes and how this meant how to safely cross the junction on foot had changed. The client has reported that so far, the message has had an impact on pedestrians and cyclists using the junction safely.