Co-op back Road Safety Week

The Co-op is using its fleet of lorries, which are being fitted with the latest safety features, to help deliver road awareness messages to hundreds of school children.

Teams from the Co-op distribution centres in West Thurrock in the South East, Derby and Newhouse near Motherwell will visit schools during Road Safety Week, which starts today (21 November).

The Co-op is also installing new safety features on to its 2,500 delivery vehicles and trailers, including reversing cameras, side view blind spot cameras, extended side guards to all new fleet, improved indicators, and new signage.

The retailer is putting in new passenger door windows in vehicles that have been developed with Scania working alongside Transport for London to minimise blind spots and increase the driver’s awareness of vulnerable road users on busy urban roads.

Jon Paul Brown, head of transport at the Co-op, said: “Road safety is a top priority for the Co-op, and we are always looking at ways to increase awareness of all road users. These new vehicle features – many of which are across our entire fleet – are a huge step forward, but we continue to explore new technology and ideas to see how we can continually improve.

“If the lessons with the schoolchildren prove popular, we will explore whether it would be possible to offer them more widely next year.”