The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, (RoSPA) has been awarded a £10,500 grant by the Department For Transport, (DFT), to produce a set of good practice guidelines for carrying pets in vehicles.

The project will review evidence of accidents and injuries caused by transporting pets in cars and produce good practice guidance in both hard copy and website versions.

The grant for the project was awarded on 13 January through the 'Road Safety Challenge Fund 2002-2003' scheme run by the DFT. A total of £184,656.30 was awarded to 17 small projects which aim to improve road safety in Great Britain, particularly for children. This total more than trebles the average annual amount provided in road safety grants over the last five years.

Announcing the results of the Challenge Fund, Transport Minister, David Jamieson said:

"Our target is to reduce deaths and serious injuries across the country by 40% overall and 50% for children. Although the number of pedestrians and cyclists killed or seriously injured on our roads has fallen, we must continue our efforts to improve safety on our roads.

"We have had some excellent bids for this money and I believe the winning projects will play an important part in helping to meet our targets. I will follow their progress with interest. I would encourage bids for this/next years fund."

Applications for grants under £5,000 can be submitted to the Road Safety Challenge Fund at any time. Grants for over £5,000 will be considered in April and October each year for applications received by 1 April and 1 October respectively. Applications that cannot be considered due to lack of available funds at the time can be resubmitted for the following year.

Grant applications must be submitted on a prescribed application form which is available from: John Doyle, Department for Transport, Zone 2/13, Great Minster House, London SW1P 4DR, tel. 0207 944 2026, or e-mail John.Doyle@dft.gsi.gov.uk.

Submitted by: Steve O'Malley      

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