Chair of South Ayrshire Community Safety Partnership, Councillor Douglas Campbell has presented Lara Crossan, a Girvan Academy pupil with an iPod which she won in a prize draw.

Earlier this year the South Ayrshire Community Safety Partnership gave an innovative presentation ‘Reckless Driving Wrecks Lives’ which addressed the consequences of road crashes, to which all fifth and sixth year students attending South Ayrshire Council schools were invited.

Every participating student was invited to complete a questionnaire after the presentation, and the names of those who did were entered into a prize drawn to win an iPod. Lara Crossan, who was an S4 student at Girvan Academy at the time of the prize draw was the lucky winner.

After presenting Lara with her prize Councillor Douglas Campbell said: “The number of young people who are involved in road crashes is a matter which concerns everyone within the Partnership.

“In order to address this concern a presentation was devised, involving representatives from agencies that deal with the victims and their relatives, to relay to young people the potentially devastating effects of road crashes. Students were given a rare insight into how the lives of professional people are affected by what they see and do at work, and I believe that this was a revelation for some of the audience.

“Many young people are killed or seriously injured each year, and they and their families have to live with the consequences for the rest of their lives.

“The students who filled in the questionnaire have provided members of the Partnership with valuable information about the presentation, and this will be of use when devising future presentations.”

At the Reckless Driving Wrecks Lives presentations students were shown a video of events leading up to young people being involved in a crash, and this was interspersed with people from various agencies coming onto the stage and addressing the audience.

Operational staff representing Strathclyde Police, Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service, Ambulance Service, and Hospital Accident and Emergency staff described in detail what their duties are when they attended crashes, or have to deal with the aftermath.

The South Ayrshire Community Safety Partnership is a multi-agency partnership consisting of South Ayrshire Council, Strathclyde Police, Strathclyde Fire Brigade and Rescue Service, Ayrshire and Arran NHS Trust and various voluntary groups.

Pictured outside Girvan Academy are (left to right) Roy Birnie, Head Teacher Girvan Academy, Councillor Douglas Campbell, Lara Crossan, and Eric Ewart, Senior Community Safety Officer.

July 2005