Crowd gathers at Kirkwall Fire Station Road Safety Open Day

Kirkwall Fire Station played host to a Road Safety Open Day within Burgh Car Park on Saturday.  

Whilst there was a number of fun activities, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Orkney Station Commander, Danny Gall, said the day was also about sharing a serious message on the prevention of road traffic collisions.  

He said: “Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and our colleagues within Police, Scottish Ambulance Service, HM Coastguard and RNLI support Orkney’s Road Safety Strategy which is geared towards making our roads and driving as safe as it can be.  

“Through events such as this we want to educate you, your families, friends and communities of Orkney to reduce and prevent road traffic collisions. It’s in the interests of everyone.”  

Families enjoyed having a go on the fire hosereel, virtual reality headsets, CPR training, seatbelt demos, climbing on board a fire appliance, seeing inside a police vehicle, reading information on the drugs dog and having a chat with the Lifeboat Guild ladies, HM Coastguard Officers, Police and Fire Service crew members.  

Shortly after 12 noon, the fire appliance appeared with sirens going and the crowd stopped to watch and listen as a fire crew dealt with a mock road crash staged within the car park. Councillor David Dawson was the “casualty” cut free from the vehicle to a round of applause by the captivated audience.  

The day was also a chance for folk to see around the station and chat with fire fighters on their role - maybe you have considered becoming an on-call fire fighter – there was no better chance to see what’s involved and the roles available locally.   

Ninety per cent of all road accidents are human error and the most common group of people to be killed is males aged from their late teens to early 20s. Lives lost much too soon, and families and friends left devastated forever.  

More often than not, the causes of road traffic crashes can be broken down to ‘the fatal five’ - dangerous/careless driving; speeding, seatbelt offences, mobile phone offences and drink and drug driving.  

Danny says it’s important to keep driving home the safety messaging from an early age. Next up will be a road safety pre-driver education event held during September for S5 students at Kirkwall Grammar School and Stromness Academy and S4 pupils from the Junior High Schools around the time that they will be embarking on their journey into driving. More details to follow.  

The Council’s Road Safety Officer, Yvonne Scott, said: “It was great to see families come along and enjoy some of the fun events, whilst hopefully taking note of the more serious side to our messaging.  

 “Our grateful thanks must go to all who assisted the event, from Stewart Shearer on sound, to Davie Dawson as the casualty, the Lifeboat Guild for their fantastic spread of goodies, and all partners who came along in support. And, finally, thanks to the public for coming along despite it being a busy weekend of events across Orkney.”