Guide Dogs Campaigns Update - November 2012

Welcome to our latest Campaigns Update. We've been racing around the Party Conferences with our award winning Safe and Sound stand highlighting the dangers of quiet electric and hybrid vehicles. Please take thirty seconds to remind your MP why it is so important that pedestrians can hear a car coming.

Success at Party Conferences

The Campaigns Team visited the three major party conferences in England to tell MPs and other key politicians about our Safe and Sound campaign which is calling for the introduction of safe audible sounds on quiet hybrid and electric vehicles to ensure that people can hear them. 

MPs were challenged to set the best lap time at our eye-catching stand, which featured a large Scalextric track complete with Guide Dogs-liveried cars. Guide Stig, dressed in a white racing suit and crash helmet, was on hand to show them how it was done. Nearly 150 of them (and Hugh Grant!) set a fastest lap and you can now find out how your MP did.

The stand was a great success in engaging politicians in the Safe and Sound campaign. Thank you to the 1,300 campaigners that emailed their MP asking them to visit our stand - many of the MPs commented that they were visiting us because of the emails they'd received from constituents. Now that the conference season is over, feel free to write to them again with our new Safe and Sound campaign letter.

Survey reveals UK's streets are a cluttered nightmare

Thank you to everyone who completed a Street Clutter survey earlier this year. We released the results on 29 October, revealing Britain's streets are becoming increasingly hazardous for people with sight loss to negotiate 65 towns across the UK were surveyed for obstructions such as A-boards, bins and vehicles parked on pavements, and found that Camden High Street in London was the most cluttered street. There were 109 items getting in pedestrians' way, and Camden was closely followed by Colchester in Essex, then Ballyclare in Northern Ireland in third place. Check how your local area performed and learn about our recommendations for businesses and councils.

Please complete our 2012 Bus Survey

Earlier this year we revealed nearly nine out of ten passengers (87%) with sight loss had missed their bus stop because they didn’t know where they were on a bus journey. We now want to know more about the experiences of blind and partially sighted people when travelling by bus. If you have a spare few minutes please complete our new Bus Survey. We will be using the results to lobby Government Ministers and bus companies across the UK.

More success at Party Conferences!

Whilst our main aim was to raise awareness amongst MPs of the potential dangers posed to blind and partially sighted pedestrians by quiet vehicles, we were delighted that we won "Best Stand" awards at both the Labour and Liberal Democrat conferences. The Conservatives don't award prizes unfortunately! Additionally, we were delighted to win the "Party Conference Innovation" award at the prestigious Public Affairs News Awards Ceremony on 8 November.

Help us wield more influence

The more people we have involved in our campaigns, the better, and you are the best people to lead our recruitment drive. It would be great if you could Like our Facebook Page, or forward this email to your family, friends and colleagues.

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For further information on the campaigning work of Guide Dogs please email campaigns@guidedogs.org.uk or call or Campaigns Team on 0800 028 4348.