Emma Peón's snail poster reminds drivers to keep to the new 20mph speed limit

Emma Peón, winner Connor Phoenix and Emily Walker

Motorists will be reminded to watch their speed thanks to students in borough primary schools. About 260 Year 5 and 6 students took part in a Junior Community RoadWatch event and caught 64 speeding motorists as part of a recent Road Safety Week crackdown.

Schools were also invited to take part in a poster competition ran by the council to remind the borough’s motorists to keep their speed down and drive and park carefully around schools. Most residential roads in Wandsworth are now covered by a 20mph speed limit.


Connor's winning poster

The winning poster, by Connor Phoenix from Smallwood School, will be displayed around the borough next March. He was presented with a printed copy of his poster, a Decathlon voucher and a £100 Amazon voucher for his school at a prize-giving event in the Mayor’s Parlour.


Emma's poster

Second place was won by Emma Peón from Hotham School and third was Emily Walker from Ravenstone School.

Junior Community RoadWatch was run by the council’s road safety department, along with PS Chris Rees, PC Frank Howe, PC Andy Smith, PC Paul Dodson, PC Marmaduke Yassine and PCSO Lorraine Mumford from Wandsworth Police. The scheme was first run during Road Safety Week last year and gives year 5 and 6 school children the chance to use ‘speed guns’ alongside their local police to reduce speeding around schools.

It was run as part of a series of events during Road Safety Week, including visits to schools to remind parents to park safely and to encourage people parking outside schools to switch off their engines as part of the council’s ongoing No Idling campaign to reduce air pollution.
As well as work with borough schools, the council runs Community RoadWatches with the police and local residents to catch speeding motorists.

Wandsworth’s transport spokesman Cllr Jonathan Cook said: “Congratulations to Connor, Emma and Emily for their brilliant posters. Reducing speeds is vital to keep our roads safer, especially for children travelling to and from school. Since we introduced the borough-wide speed limit earlier this year we’ve been keen to remind motorists that speeding will not be tolerated, and Connor’s poster will help get the message out.

Find out more about the 20mph speed limit at www.wandsworth.gov.uk/20mph

December 7, 2017