DENSO's school competition helps keep roads safe
DENSO Manufacturing UK Ltd proudly hosted their Junior Road Safety Competition award ceremony at their headquarters.
All primary schools in the Telford and Wrekin Borough were invited by DENSO to take part in a design competition aimed at actively improving road safety through the creation of powerful safety messages.
The engagement from the local community was a huge success. Through the support of Telford & Wrekin Council Road Safety Team, a total of 14 schools took part with a grand total of 800 entries.
Winners of the competition were delighted to see their designs turned into 1.5 metre signs which are to be displayed on the Community Traffic Island at Hortonwood in the coming weeks.
Each school was invited to submit entries in three categories: Seatbelt Safety; Green Cross Code and Slow Down, Save Lives.
Winners attended a special ceremony at DENSO on Wednesday. A welcoming speech was given by Head of DENSO’s Monozukuri Skills Promotion Centre, Phil Tomlinson, and attendees also heard a special address from Councillor David Wright, Telford and Wrekin Council’s cabinet member for Housing, Transport & Infrastructure.
Pupils were then presented with their awards and their schools were presented with a £1000 bursary cheque to be used for road safety promotion. In an exciting twist, DENSO also announced the winner of an additional £1000 grant for the school with the best plan for improving road safety awareness.
Winner in the category of Seatbelt Safety was Lucy Holloway from Meadows Primary Academy, while Hadley Learning Community created the winning design in the Green Cross Code category.
The winning sign for Slow Down, Save Lives was designed by Tayla-Mae Penn from Windmill Primary School, and the winning entry for best Grant Plan was submitted by Redhill Primary.
Phil Tomlinson, of DENSO, said: “We really appreciate the huge contribution of these designs that promote road safety.
“The collaboration between DENSO, the Council and the local school network has been effective in raising awareness of key road safety issues, not only amongst pupils, but also in the wider community. We are happy to make this success story into an annual event as part of DENSO’s true mission to add value to society”.
Councillor Wright also thanked DENSO for their commitment to actively improve road safety within the local community, including Telford & Wrekin Council’s Road safety team for their ongoing support and collaboration.
The road safety team has worked in partnership with DENSO for several years on numerous local community initiatives promoting, in the main, pedestrian and cycle safety. The road safety theme is just one of many projects in DENSO as part of efforts to promote and share the company’s core values.
The winning designs act as a reminder to all road users to remain aware of issues relating to road safety.
Competition entrants were proud of the work they had done and inspired by the idea of helping other people to be safe on the road.
The community island where the winning designs will be displayed was re-designed by DENSO in 2018 and given as a gift to the community as part of Telford’s 50th anniversary celebrations. It is used to promote key messages, particularly relating to road safety.
DENSO states that: “The main causes for the occurrence of traffic accidents are vehicles, infrastructure, and people. Aiming to realise a society without traffic accidents, DENSO offers products that ensure safety.
“In addition, DENSO also implements traffic safety educational activities, which are carried out by employees, for members of local communities around the world.
“Our employees act as models for practicing traffic safety and work to form connections with local communities.
“By doing so, we believe we can encourage people around the world to give consideration to the perspective of automotive safety.
“DENSO Manufacturing UK Ltd has actively promoted numerous road safety education programmes with particular focus on bike safety and pedestrian safety. Our company has prioritised young people and accessed them through the local school network.”
Sian Skelton, Telford & Wrekin Council’s Principal Road Safety Education Officer – Road Safety –Strategic Transport, said: “A great example of how collaboration can bring success, working in partnership with DENSO has enabled huge outreach to schools across the borough, our young people have not only provided us with some fantastic designs for the wider community to see they have also spread some very important road safety messages throughout their school communities.
“The awards really showcased the brilliant work done by all, a huge thank you to DENSO, the school staff and everyone of the 800+ children who submitted a design.”
