Lawyers Support Brake’s Road Safety Week

Serious injury lawyers at national law firm Irwin Mitchell’s Southampton office teamed up with Pompey in the Community to support Brake’s Road Safety Week and promote #SaferJourneys when it’s dark and the bad weather starts to fall.

The #SaferJourneys campaign reminds children to stay safe, sensible and switched on when they’re out walking in the evening or traveling in a vehicle during wintery conditions. 

Road Safety Week,  ran from 23-29 November, and  promotes road safety by encouraging grass roots activity that raises awareness of the part all road users, including pedestrians and cyclists, can play in preventing accidents on the roads.

Serious injury lawyers from Irwin Mitchell, who have experience representing individuals who have suffered serious and life-changing injuries as a result of accidents on the road, delivered road safety messages at three schools in Portsmouth throughout the week.

Expert solicitors Claire Howard, who heads up the Serious Injury team in Southampton, Ruth Johnson and Paralegal Stacey Daley visited Ark Ayrton Primary Academy, Cottage Grove Primary and Medina Primary to raise awareness of road safety.

Each day the children walked to school with Nelson the Portsmouth Football Club mascot. As part of Irwin Mitchell’s #SaferJourneys initiative the children were given reflective badges to help them be seen on the way to and from school in the dark, Nelson then appeared in the school assemblies each morning to deliver training to the children with the help of Irwin Mitchell. 

All pupils at the schools have been given the opportunity to enter into a competition to design a poster reflecting what road safety in Portsmouth means to them. The top prize will be one of two places to be one of Nelson’s puppies at the Portsmouth FC Football game on Saturday 12th December. The children will get to meet the players and go out on the pitch before the game.

On this day the 'Play up Pompey' children’s programme, will be themed around road safety and will contain images from the week. 200 tickets have been made available to children at the schools to go along and enjoy the match.

Expert Opinion

“This was a great opportunity for us to work alongside PITC who do such great work to make sure that the children of Portsmouth are aware of what they need to do to stay safe on the roads.

“In our work we see the life-changing impact collisions on the road can have on those involved and Brake’s Road Safety Week plays an important role in improving safety and reducing the likelihood of accidents.

“Our #SaferJourneys campaign aims to raise awareness of road safety in the winter and we’re asking children, friends and families to find time to review the A-Z and follow these simple messages when ice and snow starts to appear around the country.

“The training was delivered to approximately 1,000 pupils during the course of the week and we can’t wait to judge the entries into our competition.” Ruth Johnson - Senior Associate Solicitor

Clare Martin, Director of Community projects at PITC, said: “Pompey in the Community are committed to encouraging youngsters to become more active and walking to and from school is one of the ways we can encourage physical activity. 

“The opportunity to be able to work with Irwin Mitchell to make children aware of the importance of road safety whilst walking is fantastic and we enjoyed a fun and interactive week.”

The A-Z can be found here.

The Safer Journeys page can be viewed here.