Pictured (l-r) Translink Inspector Martin McKeown with Transport Manager South Eastern Region (includes Downpatrick) Education Authority Sinead Reavey, (back row) Translink Drivers Gary Bleakley and Jane Montgomery launching Translink’s seatbelt safety initiative.

Translink in conjunction with the Education Authority has launched a poster safety campaign across Northern Ireland to remind pupils of the importance of wearing a seatbelt while travelling on school buses.

Two distinctive posters with the slogans, ‘When will it click?’ and ‘Buckle Up’ will be displayed at Downpatrick and Newcastle Bus Stations and on school buses.

The inspiration for the campaign came from an art competition run earlier this year with St Killian’s College in Carnlough, where uniquely, every one of its 850 pupils travels to school by bus.  Pupils were given a brief to design a poster and slogan which would capture the importance of wearing a seatbelt on buses where provided and the winner and runner up were selected by a judging panel from Translink including designers and safety personnel.

Translink Acting Service Delivery Manager for Downpatrick / Newcastle, Ciaran McHugh said, “We were so impressed by the creativity of the pupils and their unique interpretation of the seatbelt safety message that we are rolling the artwork out across the school bus network.

We are using this opportunity to remind school pupils to use seatbelts where they are provided when they are travelling to and from school.”

Sinead Reavey, Transport Manager South Eastern Region (EA) said, “Every day we transport around 90,000 children and young people to and from school and colleges across bus services provided by Translink and our own fleet of school buses. We fully support Translink’s positive safety message and encourage everyone to wear their seatbelts at all times when travelling. I commend St Killian’s College for their participation in this project and am delighted to see the artistic talents of our young people used to promote such an important message.”