Safer Roads Humber staged a crash reconstruction at a college in Grimsby to remind students of the importance of driving safely, and to encourage them to “take responsibility” when driving.
The initiative at Franklin College was staged under the ‘For My Girlfriend’ campaign banner, to bring home the potentially terrible consequences for drivers and passengers when things go wrong. In the reconstruction, drama students from the college were rescued from the crashed car by the emergency services, with fellow students looking on.
While the injuries sustained by the passengers clearly show the potentially fatal consequences of not wearing a seat belt, the event also explored the influence, both good and bad, that friends can have on a young driver.
The campaign aims to raise awareness of the fact that 23% of all injury crashes in North East Lincolnshire involve a car driver aged 17-24 years. While the majority of these crashes involve male drivers, their passengers – often females of a similar age – represent 30% of casualties.
Ruth Gore, spokesperson for Safer Roads Humber, said: “It’s a fact that more young females aged 17-19 years are killed or seriously injured while travelling as passengers in cars than as drivers.
“Through this hard-hitting campaign we are reminding young people of the terrible dangers and consequences when things go wrong on the road. The event gives us the opportunity to ask young male drivers to take special care of their female passengers and to point out the particular dangers that young females face as passengers.”
The college has put together a programme of road safety events to reinforce the safe driving messages delivered at the event.
Media students filmed the event. Law students took ‘statements’ on the day and will then explore the legal side of what happens to drivers following a crash. And physics students received a lesson from the Humberside Police collision investigation team which will put physics theory into practice.
Contact Ruth Gore on 01482 391458 for more information.
I work at Franklin and my daughter was involved in this event and I found it to be quite distressing to see my daughter in that scenario. Congratulations on this initiative and I hope it has made all think about the consequences of their actions.
Steve Bottomley
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