Slow down campaign using wheelie bins

One of the themed areas of work of the Harrogate District Community Safety Partnership is to keep the roads of the district safe.

The multi-agency road safety group has come up with an innovative way to try and reduce the speed of drivers.

With agreement from the Harrogate Borough Council, wheelie bins are being used to encourage people to slow down. Stickers are being placed on the sides of the bins, so that on the day the bins are collected the street has a visual reminder to drivers to SLOW DOWN.

Councillor Phil Ireland (pictured), Cabinet Member for the Environment, has supported the project from the outset by giving permission for the wheelie bins to be used to put across this important message.

Phil Ireland said:

There are places across the district that experience problems with speeding motorists; this is a good example of advice being given in an alternative way. We hope that those areas that are being identified for the project support the Community Safety Partnership by attaching the stickers to their bins and that drivers change their behaviour.

Julia Stack, Community Safety and CCTV Manager, who has led the project, identified the areas that the SLOW DOWN campaign will cover. Work has already taken place in terms of monitoring speed. This is the next step to help keep the roads safe.

Stickers are being delivered free of charge to residents for them to stick on their wheelie bins. There are four stickers one for each side of the landfill waste and green waste bins. An information leaflet is also included.

Neighbourhood Watch is supporting the project. Local coordinators are assisting with the distribution of the stickers and encouraging residents to get them stuck on their bins before their next collection.

The first phase of the SLOW DOWN project is on Forest Moor Lane, Knaresborough.

Other locations to be included within the next phases are: