Here’s a fun and novel idea designed to emphasise the importance of safety on the beach. Ford has joined forces with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in the UK to write safety messages in the sand - with the rolling tyres of the life saver’s Ranger trucks.
The tyres are made from a mould of each message. It creates a rubber sleeve that is wrapped around the tread and fixed into place permanently.
Guy Addington, Regional Water Safety Lead at the RNLI observed: “Spending the day at the beach or out on the water is a great way to have fun and stay active but it’s easier than you think to get into trouble. With record temperatures, we’ve seen high numbers of people at UK beaches this summer so it’s imperative that we continue to raise awareness of important water safety messages.”
The three messages are ‘float to live’, ‘no inflatables’, and ‘emergency? call 999’. Ford did some research suggesting that over half of beach goers didn’t realise that the 999 number was also for the coastguard. The same survey revealed nearly two-fifths of respondents who had taken an inflatable out to sea had run into problems.
The trial is taking place at Minnis Bay in Kent. If successful it will become a long term feature of the RNLI fleet.
