Steven Cross, of Leicestershire County Council, won the inaugural MAST user award for his evaluation of the Bare Bones scheme.
The award was presented at the 2012 MAST user conference at Dunchurch Park Hotel in Warwickshire on 28 February.
Bare Bones, which encourages scooter riders to wear protective clothing, originated in Nottinghamshire and has been taken up by the road safety teams in Leicestershire and Derbyshire. It was developed because of a disproportionately high number of collisions in which scooterists suffered abrasion injuries as serious as third degree burns.
Leicestershire County Council won the award for an evaluative process which used MAST to assess how effective Bare Bones was in terms of reaching the most appropriate audience through the most efficient communications channels.
The award was presented by Kate Carpenter, chairman of the CIHT road safety panel, who also launched the conference with a keynote presentation that immediately stretched delegates’ thinking on the place of road safety in the broader policy picture.
Asking some provocative questions, Kate challenged delegates to examine their practice carefully and to be willing to let the evidence persuade them to strive for continuous improvement.
Speaking on behalf of the Bare Bones campaign, Liz Rickards, Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “Congratulations to Steven. We are thrilled that he has been recognised with this award and thank him for his work in helping the group to focus on reaching our target audience through effective communication channels.
“It’s easy to think that a scooter is just the next step up from a mountain bike but that’s not true when it comes to collisions. A scooter gives you the power to get around at a fair speed, which is great until you come off. That’s when you are going to hurt yourself really badly if you don’t wear the right kind of gear.”
For more information about Bare Bones visit: www.bare-bones.org
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