Road safety information makes students feel safer

A recent survey undertaken by Shropshire Council’s public protection, safer and stronger communities team, has found that students are responding to the information they receive on road safety.

All participants said they felt safer as a road user because of the presentations they received over the years, while even the lowest positive response in the survey saw two-thirds more likely to wear a crash helmet while cycling.

The pupils at Corbet School, Baschurch, had the chance to receive annual road safety presentations over five years, with 81% of respondents receiving a presentation in each of the five years.

The presentations, given through the school’s personal social health education programme, evolved each year to cater for the changing demographic of the groups, and emphasised different topics as pupils progressed through the school.

Philip Adams, Headteacher at Corbet School, said:

“The work of the team with the school has been excellent.”

The topics covered over the five years of presentations included: distractions when crossing the road (such as mp3 players and mobile phones), safer cycling, seatbelts, safety around buses, pre-driver education, speed, peer pressure, impaired driving (alcohol), texting whilst driving, and speaking up as a passenger in a car if you feel unsafe.

Following the last presentation, the pupils completed a short questionnaire on the impression the previous presentations had made on them as road users over the past five years.  They were also invited to leave a comment about the sessions and many of these highlighted the effects they had.

Commenting on the presentations, one pupil, said:

“I never used to wear a seatbelt, but after the road safety sessions I realise how important it is and I wear one all the time now.”

Another offered a similar perspective on how the information had altered their behaviour, saying:

“The road safety lessons have been very useful and enjoyable, have made me a better road user, and now I don’t text or use an iPod when crossing the road.”

However, one aspect which the survey did not pick up in the statistics alone was the issue of confidence.  One student said that they felt:

“having road safety sessions has influenced more young people to be safer and have more confidence to speak up [when uncomfortable in the car]”.

Malcolm Farrar, Shropshire Council’s public protection officer, who has worked closely with the school to maximise the effectiveness of the presentations to the pupils, was delighted at the results, saying:

“I am really pleased to support Corbet School and to be invited into the school each year; this has enabled me to design a programme that can be tailored to the needs of the school, and hopefully make the young people safer pedestrians, cyclists, passengers and drivers.”

The results showed that of the 96 respondents:

• 100 per cent said that they are more likely to wear a seatbelt when travelling in a car
• 100 per cent said that having road safety education made them feel safer as a road user
• 96 per cent said they feel more confident to speak up if they felt unsafe in a vehicle
• 98 per cent said that they were more aware of the effects of speed
• 94 per cent they were less likely to use a phone or listen to music when crossing the road
• 67 per cent said they were more likely to wear a cycle helmet.