By Press Release
Island pupils have received a lesson in road safety that could save their life.
The Isle of Wight Council’s road safety team commissioned The Riot Act Ltd to deliver its pedestrian safety theatre education show, ‘What went down’, to Year 7 students across the Island.
Statistics show 20 per cent of Island pedestrian casualties in the past ten years have been aged 15 years and under.
The leading contributory factor in these incidents is ‘failure to look’, which could be a result of being distracted by the roadside, such as using a mobile phone.
Ryde Academy’s Personal, social and health education lead, Rosy Watts said: “The play focused on road safety, especially around travelling to and from school.
“They mixed comedy with important powerful messaging, which will help to equip our students with helpful life-saving knowledge to be responsible pedestrians.
“The children really seemed to enjoy it and it was perfectly pitched for our 11 and 12-year-olds.
“It was great that they highlighted the danger of distractions, especially with phones and music, it was a helpful reminder to everyone to be more road safety aware.”
Councillor Phil Jordan, Cabinet member for transport, said: “What a fantastic, relevant and inspiring event aimed at the school children most at risk from road related accidents.
“Hopefully this drama performance will help those young people to think about the importance of road safety, especially as many Year 7 students are now emerging as independent travellers.
“Equipping children with this knowledge encourages them to make responsible and safe decisions as pedestrians throughout their school years and beyond.
“I would like to thank Riot Act for their efforts and energy in aiming their message at their audience in a positive, interesting and thought provoking way. Well done to all the children present who listened, engaged and took on board the messages and information given to them. A great success all round”
More information on The Riot Act Ltd and their shows can be found at: https://www.theriotact.co.uk/
Details on the STATS19 database used by the police to collect data can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/stats19-forms-and-guidance
