Two new pedestrian safety trucks will be operating in the Penrith area bearing CEMEX’s bold pedestrian safety message of ‘Don’t Chance it. Look out before you step out’.
Each truck will be used to deliver up to 20 tonnes of aggregates from Shap quarry in Cumbria to concrete plants and local construction projects in Penrith and the surrounding area.
The two trucks are some of the 57 new DAF 8 wheeler trucks that will be operating out of CEMEX locations throughout the country and spreading the vital safety message to pedestrians in the community.
For the first time the safety message includes images of three different groups of vulnerable pedestrians – school children, the ‘not-so-young’ and Mums with babies and toddlers. The aim is to target the message specifically at these vulnerable road users.
“Our trucks are moving billboards and can help us save lives, in this case those of pedestrians. In total we have around 800 vehicles travelling approximately 39 million miles. It’s a great opportunity to use some of these vehicles to spread the message of ‘Don’t Chance it’, that is don’t step out in front of or close to a large goods vehicle,” comments Les Grabarz, Area Logistics manager.
The CEMEX pedestrian safety campaign was launched at the beginning of 2018, following on from their highly successful and market-leading cyclist safety campaign. The company aims to engage with pedestrians to highlight the potential dangers around large goods vehicles and the part pedestrians can play in staying safe.
In 2016 25% of road fatalities were pedestrians, up 10% compared to 2015 according to the Department of Transport.
During 2018 CEMEX has produced a range of materials to inform pedestrians about how to stay safe: a safety leaflet, posters and video available through its website.