In our ongoing A Day in My Life series, Kayleigh Tonkins explains what her day to day work is like as a road safety project officer for Ceredigion County Council.

I HAVE been a keen horse rider since the age of seven, when my family relocated from Devon to Llanddewi-Brefi.

Over the years I have experienced my fair share of near misses on the rural roads of Ceredigion whilst out with my sisters or friends on horseback or on bikes

I’ve always thought there’s more that could be done to educate and advise people in order to make a difference to the safety of all road users, in particular vulnerable road users.

Having said this, I never imagined I would start a career in road safety; I had initially been keen to pursue an equestrian career!

I saw the advert a few years ago for a new road safety project officer and decided I had nothing to lose by applying. Now, I work in this field I cannot think of a more diverse or rewarding job.

I work alongside a wonderful team of people. Heulwen is the road safety assistant who provides admin support in the office and is a very knowledgeable child car seat advisor.

Between the two of us, we stay on top of the day-to-day office and admin work, and venture out to various locations across the county to deliver the road safety message.

There’s two Kerbcraft staff; Neris delivers training in the south of the county and Rose-Ann delivers the training in the north. Two cycle instructors for the county are Graham and newly appointed Owen, and there are eight fantastic, reliable School Crossing Patrol Officers.

Between us all we make up Ceredigion’s Road Safety team, with Chris our manager at the helm.

Where do I begin with what’s involved within my role as road safety officer? Road safety affects everyone; there are so many aspects to road safety that no day is the same for us and we cater for all ages.

I visit schools on a regular basis, either to pop in to deliver an assembly or spend half a day with groups of children discussing road safety matters which impact on their lives.

I also enjoy encouraging active travel, and will happily help to organise a walking bus with a school, to try to encourage pupils to walk, scoot or cycle to their school at least once a week.

Read the full feature in this week’s Cambrian News, on sale now