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Speed demons should stay on the race track: Formula One legend Sir Jackie Stewart wants Vale safe driving campaign to go national
Sir Jackie Stewart judges speed awareness poster competition at Butlers Cross village hall - pictured with Sir Jackie is all the winning posters (not all winning designers were in attendance)
Formula One legend Sir Jackie Stewart wants a road safety campaign, which is set to be rolled out across Bucks, to become a national initiative.
The three-time F1 world champion, who lives near Butler’s Cross, has chosen a series of children’s posters to be blown up and turned into road signs calling for drivers to slow down.
Starting this month, towns and villages across Bucks will be encouraged to follow suit and Sir Jackie wants other counties to unveil similar schemes with bigger and brighter signs.
He said: “If you use this as a pilot project you will then have a serious opportunity to have not just another neighbouring county following suit but others nationwide. But this is just the beginning.
“The signs actually need to be bigger as there’s a lot of traffic and people can miss them.
“We need to get them more robust and erected in the right places. I think that would have a domino effect elsewhere.”
Sir Jackie got the idea for the posters from Switzerland, where cardboard cut outs of children are placed by roadsides to help prevent speeding.
During his career the F1 star, who had a two in three chance of being killed whilst racing, sucessfully campaigned to improve safety.
Nowadays Sir Jackie encourages children to be brave and ‘speak up’ when their parents are speeding.
He said: “I have a strong belief that young people have more influence and the signs will encourage them to tell their parents to slow down.”
Sir Jackie said he chose the winning designs because they were simple and bright.
“You have got to be able to see it at 30mph and keep your eyes on the road.
“You have got to be hit in the face with the message. It can be vivid in colour.”
From this month parish councils across Bucks will be encouraged to hold their own poster competitions.
Highways rules are also being looked at to allow bigger signs to be installed.
In April 2011 Sir Jackie sponsored a feature in The Bucks Herald inviting children to design a road safety poster to raise awareness of speeding through villages such as Ellesborough.
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Saturday 25 May 2013
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