Highland School First for Road Safety Figures In Scotland

A primary school in Inverness Area is believed to be the first in Scotland to introduce an innovative road safety measure which aims to reduce the speed of drivers.

As part of a business project, pupils at Dochgarroch Primary School came up with the idea of importing a road safety product originating from kindergarten in South Germany.

Head Teacher Trish Hossack said: "Our idea came from Germany where a kindergarten started making figures of children to put beside roads near their school to try to slow down the traffic. They had tried lots of other ways but found that these figures are a great reminder to drivers to slow down.

"We imported figures from Germany, sanded them down, painted them eye catching colours and fitted them with metal spikes to make them easy to install. Our whole school voted for suitable names and we decided on the Highland names of Murdo and Morag. We think they are more successful in pairs.

"Having tried them out on our approach road to Dochgarroch Primary School, we discovered every driver reported having seen them. The results were that drivers slowed down. They really work!"

Dochgarroch Primary School has already found buyers for their road-side safety children signs with Abriachan Forest Trust among their current customers. The school hopes that other landowners both in the private and public sector will consider buying their figures at £50 per pair for driveways, play parks or community areas. For further information about the road-side figures contact Dochgarroch Primary School tel: 01463 861240.

The cut-out figures should only be used on driveways, cycle-routes, and private land but not on adopted roads where existing road safety measure such as speed restrictions signage are in place and where installation of such figures on public highways would require planning permission.