Thousands of students from across Dorset, including Thomas Hardye School and Budmouth, will experience a hard-hitting road safety presentation over the coming months.
Safe Drive Stay Alive targets students in Year 11 and above, who will soon be learning to drive and whose friends may already be driving. The presentation uses powerful personal testimony and dramatic video footage to make the audience aware of the tragedy and suffering caused by road traffic collisions.
Firefighters, medics, police officers, bereaved parents and people who have been directly involved in road traffic collisions recount their stories, often in heart-breaking detail.
Between now and the end of April, the presentation will be seen by students at Poole High School (15 October); The Bourne Academy, Bournemouth (16 October); Gryphon School, Sherborne (5 November); Sturminster Newton High School (6 November); Shaftesbury School (7 November); Thomas Hardye School, Dorchester (21 November); Woodroffe School, Lyme Regis (29 November); Purbeck School, Wareham (2 December); Sir John Colfox Academy, Bridport (10 December), including Beaminster School; Poole Grammar School (19 December); St Edward’s School, Poole (14 January); Blandford School (22 January).
Sherborne School for Boys will also host students from Sherborne School for Girls when the presentation is held there on 13 November, and Weymouth College, Kingston Maurward College and Budmouth College will attend a show at Weymouth Pavilion on 18 November.
Safe Drive Stay Alive is a road safety initiative coordinated by Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service on behalf of the Road Safety Dorset partnership.
Christine Sharma, road safety manager at Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, explained: “The presentation is hard hitting and upsetting, but we make no apology for that. The speakers are real people who have experienced the horror of road traffic collisions, whether as a member of the emergency services, as a victim or as a parent who has lost a child. It is this truthfulness that makes it so successful. We know that the young people who see this roadshow are affected, and we have seen the number of young people killed or seriously injured on our roads decrease since the programme started. We really do make a difference.”
A parallel programme of school shows is being held in Wiltshire between now and Christmas, and a number of presentations for military audiences are also scheduled.
More dates are being added to the current programme so, if you would like to book the roadshow for your school, please contact Phil Villain on 07500 815924 or e mail phil.villain@dwfire.org.uk
