September 2018-Launched our art competition in school to design a car sticker to highlight the dangers of mobile phone use.
-Set up our Road Safety Committee for school year 2018/19
-Brainstormed with students how to create our sticker and why we are highlighting this issue?
-Picked winning design and slogan and ordered 500 stickers with online company Printco.
October 2018 -Launched our Road Safety Campaign with local media, police and politicians
-Sold and promoted them in school, local shops and main shopping centre
November 2018 - Nominated for a Leading Light Award by our local Road Safety Officer.
December 2018 - Won a Leading Light Award in road safety by the National Road Safety Authority of Ireland and also presented on the day with the overall Supreme Award for our contribution to Road Safety in Ireland.
Featured on national television and radio.
-Invited to our local town council meeting to meet local politicians.
February 2019 - Presented with a cheque from local company Prometric who donated 500 euro to help us continue with our car sticker campaign.
April 2019- Encouraged by our local Road Safety Officer to join the European Road Safety Charter.
Ordered 1,000 more car stickers to help continue our campaign. Hope to talk to some mobile phone companies in Ireland in the future.
Good Practice
'Keep Me Safe, Phones Can Wait' Car Sticker Campaign
'Keep Me Safe, Phones Can Wait' Car Sticker Campaign
Initiative details
Describe the characteristics of your target audience
Our target audience was both children and adults. Children, to remind their parents not to drive whilst using a mobile phone and to instil life-long good habits in them. Also all those who are behind a wheel and are tempted to take a call or to text whilst driving. We hope that anyone who sees our sticker on the road will think twice before they text or talk whilst driving.
Organisation details
School / Research center
Teacher Mairéad Fearonc/o Castletown Girls' National School, Castletown Rd, Dundalk, Co. Louth Irelande-mail: mallonmairead@hotmail.comTel: 00353 876301389
Please describe the main road safety challenges/problems you have addressed or are addressing.
We are addressing the problem of mobile phone use whilst driving. It is a problem that we have noticed in our area and one we hope to raise awareness of. You are 24 times more likely to crash when you are sending a text message whilst driving. We hope children will remind their parents to stop using their phones whilst driving and see that they are putting lives at risk every time they do so.
What are your objectives?
1. To raise awareness of the dangers of driving whilst using a mobile phone among our students, parents and wider school community.
2. To reduce mobile phone use whilst driving in our town, county and country.
3.To promote our car sticker in as many ways as possible, to as many people as possible!
4.To get support from local businesses, politicians and clubs in our area in promoting our campaign.
We set up a Road Safety Committee each year, with representatives from 1st-6th class. For Road Safety Week in October every year, we aim to tackle a different issue with regards to Road Safety. For the school year 2018/19 we decided to tackle the problem of drivers using mobile phones whilst on the road. We organised an art competition for the senior end of the school, to design a car sticker with a slogan to highlight the dangers of mobile phone use on our roads. It was so hard to choose from all the great entries but in the end, we chose Jade Dollard's slogan 'Keep me Safe, Phones can Wait' and Kayleigh Owen's artwork. We worked closely with 5th class to make sure our design was bright, colourful and eye-catching. Using an online printing company, we produced 500 car stickers.We launched our car sticker in October 2018 and invited local politicians, local media and gardaí to our launch. The children were so excited to see the final product and it was not long before we were seeing our stickers on vehicles around our town. It is a campaign that we are extremely proud of. Not only has it made our students aware of the dangers of driving whilst on their mobile phones as passengers now, and as future drivers but it has also reached beyond to our school families and friends and every person that is seeing our car sticker and its important message on our roads.
Project activities
List the actions you carried/are carrying out
Date
Tuesday, 28 August, 2018
Name of action
Evaluation
What has been the effect of the activities?
We decided to tackle mobile phone use whilst driving and based our campaign on this issue. (In previous years we had worked on wearing seat-belts and crossing the road safely.) We didn't survey our parents beforehand but we have received great feedback from them saying it has really made them think twice about using their phones. Nearly all parents from our school have the car sticker displayed proudly on their cars. Some staff members have switched to hands free sets in their cars since this campaign. Our students tell us that they now tell their Mams & Dads to get off the phone whilst driving as it is dangerous. The children had so much fun with this campaign that they are already asking when they can do more things for the Road Safety Authority. They are so much more road safety conscious and eager to get involved. We sold all 500 stickers in the first round and are in the process of ordering another 1,000.Also being awarded the Supreme Award at the Leading Lights Ceremony was such a honour and huge recognition for our campaign. Within the school we are constantly evaluating our project and trying to further promote our car sticker campaign, working closely with students, teachers & parents.
How have you shared information about your project and its results?
We invited local media to the launch of our car sticker campaign. We featured on local radio LMFM as part of National Road Safety week and appeared in local newspapers. We asked local shops and petrol stations to help us promote our sticker. We constantly update our school website and post on the RSA Twitter and Facebook page. We set up a stall in the town's busiest shopping centre and sold our car stickers to the public. The feedback was very encouraging and positive. After winning a Leading Light award in the Education Category, this put us in the national spotlight and we were featured on the national RTE news (radio and television). We were presented with our prizes on the day by Minister for Transport Shane Ross. It meant a wider audience for our car sticker.<br>
How many people did you reach/have you reached?
Who carried/carries out the evaluation activities?
External evaluation
When did/will you carry out the evaluation?
After the intervention
Please list the indicators you use to measure success
All our car stickers selling out and being displayed proudly on vehicles in our town.
Winning the Supreme award at Ireland's Leading Light Road Safety Ceremony.
Raising awareness of road safety among our students and staff in a fun and creative way.
Feed back from the public and parents telling us how car sticker has changed their driving habits.
Please describe the evaluation tools you use (i.e. surveys, interviews, focus groups, etc.)
Interviews/feedback from parents and the public who bought our car sticker.
Supporting materials
Attachments
