Road Safety Week
Road Safety Week was setup in 1997 by Brake, the road safety charity, as a yearly event in order to “raise awareness about road safety and promote steps that everyone can take to stop these needless deaths and injuries year-round”.
Road Safety Week aims to inspire thousands of schools, organisations and communities to take action on road safety and promote life-saving messages during the Week and beyond. It also provides a focal point for professionals working in road safety to boost awareness and engagement in their work.
Road Safety Week
No Need To Speed
2020’s theme is “No Need To Speed“.
When in a crash, 1mph can make all the difference and yet people still regularly drive in a dangerous manner.
Slower traffic can help make places feel more welcoming for the people who live, work and play in them. This can mean more people choosing to walk and cycle to get around and more people interacting with each other on the street, creating fitter, healthier and happier communities.
Teaching in Schools
Road crashes are one of the biggest causes of death and serious injury among children and young people. Dangerous roads also affect their ability to walk, cycle and live healthy active lifestyles. That’s why it’s important to raise awareness of the risks on roads, as well as reaching out to parents and the wider community. Road safety is a great topic to engage pupils of all ages, while meeting curriculum goals.
Take a look below at some of the best ways to teach this topic within a school environment.
Road Safety Assembly
Holding a whole-school assembly with a road safety theme is a great way to engage kids.
Brake are currently underway designing their Road Safety 2020 pack, but you are able to register for it here.
Set up a campaign
Are you concerned that traffic in your area is putting people in danger, frightening families, and stopping people from walking and cycling freely? Is there a need for lower speeds and better pavements, paths and crossings? Has someone already been hurt and you want to take action to stop it happening again?
Right here you can find Brake’ community campaign kit, containing heaps of information and advice on how to set up a community group, hold demos and awareness-raising events.
What have other schools done?
Cassio House at Hessle High School got involved in Road Safety Week by taking on an all-day cycling challenge on Thursday 22 November to raise money for Brake and awareness for the Brake Pledge!
More than 100 students took part in the challenge, cycling a combined total of over 500km and raising more than £400 for Brake.
Lockerbie Academy teamed up with Police Scotland to teach the subject of Mechanics through the topic of road safety. They used playmats and light gates to measure instantaneous and average speeds, and how police measure speed. They used reaction timers to discuss stopping distances, 2D playmats to look at velocity, speed and forces in crashes, highlighting importance of crumple zones and other safety features. Police put pupils knowledge to the test by recreating scenarios in the assembly hall and carried out winter safety safety checks at their local supermarket.
St. Andrew’s RC Primary School took part in Road Safety Week by holding a number of activities including a bake sale and an outdoor road safety obstacle course, to help raise awareness for road safety issues.
The school raised £182 for Brake during the Week, and they even got a visit from Zak the Zebra a couple of weeks later to say thank you.
Our Resources
We have a variety of resources available, please take a look below:
We hope that this blog has provided you with some inspiration and has informed you on how you can help take part this month and make the roads as safe as possible for everyone.
