Two junior road safety officers joined the Iceni Safer Neighbourhood Team on Friday 9^th May, as they carry out speed checks in Tuddenham St Mary.

Pupils at the local primary school have been working with Suffolk Police and its partners through Suffolk Roadsafe, which aims to improve safety on the county’s roads through education and enforcement.

PCSO Dawn Rowan of the Iceni Safer Neighbourhood Team helped the two children carry out the checks. “There were two aims for the checks – firstly to allow the youngsters to see the work that the Safer Neighbourhood Team does, but more importantly to let them get a feel for the speed of traffic passing their school. The work that the two junior road safety officers do will be taken back to the classroom and they will present it through discussions, posters and drawings. The idea is that they themselves provide information to their peers on how to stay safe when out and about.

“Speeding traffic has always been a problem when school closes for the day – but with the Safer Neighbourhood Team in place, we can provide a visible presence outside the school and it’s been having a big effect. Traffic is slowing down and parents are reassured by our patrols. Now through our work with the junior road safety officers, we hope that the children will be more aware that speeding is dangerous, and also more aware of the traffic and how to get to and from school safely.”

Headteacher at Tuddenham VCP School, Kathryn McMurtary, adds, "We have very strong links with our PCSO Dawn, and she has helped to raise the profile of road safety in the area. We have a Travel Plan that aims to reduce the volume of school traffic and hope that the general public will help by reducing their speed through the village."

The two junior road safety officers were William Papworth, aged 8 from Herringswell and Ella Bullen, aged 9 and from Tuddenham St Mary.