Short film on future of road safety for primary schools

Road safety charity Brake has teamed up with TV and radio science presenter and YouTube educator Greg Foot to create a brand new short film for primary schools.

The seven-minute film, called Our future journeys: safer by design, aims to help children understand how connected and autonomous vehicles work and why safe vehicles are so important for a world where everyone can move in a safe and healthy way.

The film has been created for UK Road Safety Week 2019, which is coordinated by Brake and starts on Monday (18 November). It’s available to watch for free via the website (roadsafetyweek.org.uk) and will be shown to thousands of schoolchildren in assemblies and lessons throughout the week.

This year’s Road Safety Week theme is ‘Step up for Safe Streets’ and focuses on how design led solutions can prevent people dying or being seriously injured on the roads. Last year 14,254 children were killed or injured on British roads [1]. That’s an average of 39 children – more than a classroom full – dying or suffering injuries as a result of road crashes every day.

Our future journeys: safer by design is presented by Greg Foot who has been bringing science to life through entertaining shows and live performances all over the world for the past decade. As well as hosting his own series on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Three and CBBC, he has helped children understand science by appearing regularly on Blue Peter, hosting school talks and making popular videos on YouTube.

The short film also features six children from Hotham Primary School in Putney, London, who talk to Greg about their views on vehicle technology and what they want to keep them safe on roads. The film covers aspects of future technology, such as cars that will drive themselves, and includes a live demonstration of how autonomous emergency braking (AEB) works to prevent a collision. Filming took place at the Science Museum in London and at HORIBA MIRA technology centre in Nuneaton.

In keeping with the theme of ‘Step up for Safe Streets’, the film will help children talk to grown ups about how they can be road safety leaders and do their bit for safer roads. Brake has also produced a series of supporting materials, including assembly slides, lesson plans and activity sheets that are all available for free from the website.

Register at www.roadsafetyweek.org.uk/educators to get access to the free online action pack, which includes the film Our future journeys: safer by design.