The Road Safety Unit and gas station operators TOTAL teamed up to be part of the LIME ‘Skool Aid’ back-to-school fair which took place at Jamworld in Portmore on August 25.

Under the initiative, thousands of students who attended the fair received back-to-school supplies as well as invaluable information as they prepared for the start of the new school year. An important feature of the RSU/TOTAL tent was the introduction of the Children Against Reckless Driving (CARD) campaign. The idea for this campaign was to have children ages 6-12 creating and designing cards which would depict who their ‘road model’ was. To aid the children in the making of the cards, the RSU/TOTAL team on hand provided materials and resources. Additionally, students were given short, lively lessons on proper road safety techniques as they go about in the traffic environment.

Speaking on the Unit’s participation in the Fair, Acting Education Officer at the RSU, Ms Cameal Stewart said, “the RSU and by extension the Ministry of Transport, Works & Housing was happy for the opportunity provided by the Fair to reach thousands of children and parents with road safety information.” Continuing, she said, “many children die each year on our roads as a result of road crashes. This is of grave concern for the Ministry/Unit, and this is why we have used the opportunity to introduce the CARD programme here at the LIME Skool Aid.”

The CARD Campaign is one of the Road Safety Unit’s biggest and most far reaching outreach activities. The winners of the competition were selected from the 6-9 and 10; four winners were selected.

The competition was made possible with the sponsorship and partnership of TOTAL Jamaica Ltd; Grennell’s Driving School; Jamaica Automobile Association (JAA) and Continental Baking Company.