News & Media > Highway Services

15:03:2010

Pupils learn about winter road safety

May Gurney was delighted to support a competition to help primary school pupils across Essex learn about the importance of keeping roads safe and clear in the winter months.

Essex County Council’s annual ‘Name a Winter Gritter’ competition teaches children about the challenges faced by the county’s gritting crews, particularly in the severe conditions of the past few months.

This winter the county’s winter maintenance teams have used a record 25,000 tonnes of salt and grit on 140,000 miles of road - enough to go around Britain’s 11,000 mile coastline 12 times.

While May Gurney’s gritter crews have been battling to keep roads clear in the worst conditions in 30 years, Year 3 pupils have been learning about winter gritting in the competition judged by the gritter crews themselves.

Councillor Roger Walters, deputy cabinet member for highways and transportation, said: “A big thank you to our contractors May Gurney and Balfour Beatty for their support of this project and their efforts in keeping our roads clear this winter.”

Ken Kintrea, general manager for May Gurney’s highways contract in Essex, said: “Judging the pictures reminded us of the importance of the work we do in making sure children can get to school.

“It’s been an exceptionally hard job this winter but hopefully by showing children and their parents what we do we can help to contribute to an understanding of the conditions and how challenging they can be.”

As part of the competition a pack was distributed to all 470 primary schools in Essex giving information about the winter gritting process.

The winners were Isobel Newstead from Bocking Church Primary School with ‘Icy Issy’, Ciana Peachey from Ford End Primary School with ‘Dr Ice’ and Harrison Essam from Kingswood Primary School in Basildon with ‘Slip’ and runner-up Bailee Gosling with ‘Robbie’ (also from the Kingswood Primary School).

Click here to read more about May Gurney's work in partnership with Essex County Council.