A VOLUNTARY organisation that assists the National Ambulance Service and two Cork schools on the same campus were among 18 award winners at the 13th annual ‘Leading Lights in Road Safety’ awards ceremony earlier this month.

East Cork Rapid Response and Beaumont Boys and Girls School Parents Association have each been awarded in the ‘Emergency Services’ and ‘Sustainable Travel’ categories, respectively.

The awards were presented by RSA chief executive, Sam Waide at a ceremony at Croke Park which took place on December 13.

East Cork Rapid Response (ECRR) is a voluntary organisation that assists the National Ambulance Service by providing advanced skills at the site of an incident within East Cork and Cork City.

The volunteers respond to an average of nine calls a month, with road traffic incidents being the second most common reason for a call out.

“What East Cork Rapid Response do could be the difference between life or death or indeed between an injury or an utterly life-changing injury,” the Leading Lights judges remarked.

“Their commitment since 1995 is inspiring and what they do has a hugely positive impact on a person’s prognosis following a road traffic collision.”

Beaumont Girls National School and Scoil Barra Naofa Buachaillí are two schools on the same campus in Cork City.

The Parents Association, with the help of the teachers, identified areas of traffic congestion around the school and then worked with residents and Cork City Council to close off the road outside the campus to vehicular traffic during school drop-off and pick-up times.

The Association then set about encouraging parents to park at a distance from the school, resulting in a safer area in the vicinity of the school and the benefit of the children getting fresh air and exercise as they walked to school.

This was further developed by introducing a cycle bus, where parents and children gathered at an agreed spot and cycled to school together.

On this project, judges said: “Beaumont School really showed how parents, teachers, pupils, local authorities, residents associations and other community groups can all work together to achieve their road safety goals.”