Date: 2nd October, 2017
Around 1,000 Year 11 students from the Salisbury area will experience a hard-hitting road safety presentation later this week.
Safe Drive Stay Alive 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 heartbreaking detail.
St Edmund’s Girls’ School in Laverstock will host four shows over two days on 5-6 October, which will be attended by students from Salisbury Sixth Form College, the Trafalgar School at Downton, Wyvern College, Leehurst Swan School, Sarum Academy, St Joseph’s Catholic School in Laverstock, Wiltshire College, Focus School Wilton Campus, Burgate School and Sixth Form in Fordingbridge, Bishop Wordsworth’s School and South Wilts Grammar School for Girls.
Safe Drive Stay Alive is a Wiltshire and Swindon road safety initiative coordinated by Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service on behalf of a partnership including Wiltshire Police, Wiltshire Council, Swindon Borough Council, Arval Ltd, Wiltshire Air Ambulance and Severn Major Trauma Network.
Since its launch in 2006, the roadshow has been seen by thousands of students – and the organising team is hoping that it will soon be essential viewing for every school in the county.
Ian Hopkins, 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.”
Safe Drive roadshows are being held for schools across Wiltshire between October and December, with presentations still to be held in Devizes, Trowbridge, Tidworth, West Lavington, Chippenham and Marlborough.
There will also be a number of shows held specifically for military personnel in November, and a parallel programme of shows for schools in Dorset is now underway.