CARD Promotes Road Safety

Jamaican children are being encouraged to participate in the Children Against Reckless Driving (CARD) campaign, which is promoting safety on the nation’s roads.
The campaign encourages children to make a card which promotes safe motoring skills, to someone they admire as being a good road model or motorist.
The campaign, which runs from May to June, targets children aged seven to 12 years old, and is sponsored in partnership by the Road Safety Unit (RSU), the Transport Authority, the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), the National Transformation Programme (NTP) and Total Jamaica Limited.

Director, National Transformation Programme, Rev. Dr. Al Miller, examining cards done by children to recognize individuals they deem as road models at the launch of the Children Against Reckless Driving (CARD) campaign, at the St. Benedict’s Primary School, Kingston on Wednesday (May 19).

Speaking at the launch of the campaign at the St. Benedict’s Primary School in Kingston on Wednesday (May 19), Acting Information and Education Officer, RSU, Da’Reon Sevanell, said that this year the CARD campaign has been expanded into a competition format.
He noted that this has been done so that children from the primary level can have the opportunity to give a card to someone they consider to be a good road model.The cards will allow the children to send a message to the adults, as well as becoming an avenue for behaviour change. He added that this is important as the child would become a motorist with a habit of responsibility promoted from an early age.
Mr. Sevanell noted that the programme, which started in 2009, is geared at encouraging children on proper road use and giving them a voice to express their feelings about road models.
He said that the campaign is one means of getting the children to express their feelings and to highlight their concerns, lamenting that in 2008, there were 341 fatalities on the nation’s roads and of which 21 were children.
Marketing Director, Total Jamaica Limited, Phillip Caulder, said that developing skills in using the road is critical from the earliest age possible, hence the need to start with children.
Marketing Sales Manager, JUTC, Lenworth Simms, said he was pleased to be working in a collaborative effort in promoting safety on the roads. He said that the JUTC is committed to providing smart cards to all entrants from the KMTR, as well as finalists in the campaign.
General Manager, Finance and Planning, Transport Authority, Charles O’Conner, encouraged the students to continue adhering to road safety tips.
Director of the National Transformation Programme, Rev. Dr. Al Miller, encouraged students to become road models by doing the right things on the road.
Entries for the competition should be submitted to the Road Safety Unit, Ministry of Transport and Works, 145 Maxfield Avenue, Kingston 10.