Youngsters get behind a speed gun to monitor drivers in Eye

Junior road safety officers from St Peter and St Paul CE Primary School in Eye supporting police officers from the local Safer Neighbourhood Team in carrying out road speed checks. Safety enforcement officer Chris Fiske, back left, and PCSO Steve Long with pupils, from left, Annabel Jude, 10, Hazel Lambert, 10, Emma Roche, 10 and Bethany Turner, 10. Picture: STUART ANDERSON (Image: Archant)

The 10-year-olds, who are 'junior road safety officers' at St Peter and St Paul C of E Primary School, joined a police safer neighbourhood team to monitor drivers' speeds along Victoria Hill.

The youngsters had the chance to use speed guns, learning how to record the speed of passing vehicles.

Steve Long, a PCSO from Eye Police Station, said: 'This is a way of making them aware of road safety and traffic speeds. It's also making them aware of how speed guns work.'

One of the pupils, Emma Roche, said: 'We've been checking people's speed on the cameras. Sometimes they are going too fast. There are a lot of people walking around here so they should be careful.'

She added: 'We are going to write a report when we get back to school and the rest of the school can learn from it.'

Classmate Hazel Lambert said she had some simple advice for drivers. She said: 'Two words: slow down'.

Georgina Robinson, a higher-level teaching assistant at the school, said: 'This is really giving them an understanding of what speeding is and how fast cars can go.'

The junior road safety officers scheme was started by Suffolk County Council as a means of passing on safety messages to youngsters.

Mrs Robinson said the pupils sometimes also issued parking notices at the school to drivers who they thought parked badly, as well as other exercises.

She said: 'They get to learn about different aspects of road safety and pass on that knowledge to the rest of the school.'