Medway’s Walking Bus scheme has earned the council’s road safety team a gold award at the 2012 Green Apple Environmental Awards.
The road safety team was competing against more than 500 other nominations for the 2012 Green Apple Awards which recognise Britain’s greenest companies, councils and communities.
Bryan Shawyer, Medway’s road safety manager, said: “We are always looking for new effective ways to promote and increase road safety and sustainability throughout Medway, year round.
“A special mention for Su Ormes, principal road safety officer, who created the original idea with her colleagues and has championed the project to the success it is today.”
The project will also be considered to represent the UK in the European Business Awards for the Environment.
For more information contact Anna Hinde on 01634 332736.
A successful and effective variation on a theme is still a valid innovation. Older initiatives need to be reviewed and refreshed to maintain their relevance and to improve on the original idea. Part of the value of any award scheme is to reward good work and bringing ideas into practice but a major value of them is the publicity they engender to bring knowledge of the good ideas to a wider audience and share that information for wider use.
This award is in fact an environmental award rather than a road safety one and reducing carbon emissions and peak hour traffic and congestion is a priority for both central and local government, as is promoting healthier lifestyles. Bringing the revamped Walking Bus scheme to the notice of a new generation of parents, pupils and teachers is essential to maintain and increase the number of children and families who walk to school.
Honor Byford, Vice Chair, Road SafetyGB
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I have to agree with Eric’s comments..…yes really. Without wishing to take anything away from the efforts and good intentions of those involved in road safety initiatives, it does seem to me as well, that some recent awards reported in the Newsfeed have been for variations on existing themes – nothing particularly new ….no ‘eureka’ ideas. The engineering schemes in particular seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary and are the sort of schemes LAs have been doing for donkeys years. Nothing wrong with the ideas in themselves of course – just wondered about the the awards – or am I missing something?
Hugh Jones, Cheshire
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Forgive me spoiling the party, but what is innovative about this? Walking Buses are a great idea but they were started at my children’s school in St Albans in 1998. See History here…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_bus
Eric Bridgstock, Independent Road Safety Research
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Congratulations Su – that’s put a remark of yours into context. Good pic, by the way.
Brian. Road Safety GB
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