Friday, July 19, 2013
Cheshire Fire Service Cadets win national road safety award
Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service Cadets have won a national road safety award, as part of a campaign to help save young lives co-ordinated by Brake, the road safety charity.
The 2young2die awards, sponsored by young driver insurance provider iKube, encourage young people to get creative and promote life-saving road safety messages to peers and wider community through powerful campaigns.
This year's winning entry is a series of three short films (watch here) researched, scripted and produced by teams of cadets from Congleton, Sandbach and Runcorn. The films, on the themes of speeding, drink-driving and seatbelts, were developed as part of The Fire Cadet Road Safety Video Project. The project was set up after the tragic death of Congleton Fire Cadet Hayley Bates in a road crash in September 2010. The project has been such a success that it will now be run annually, with films produced by cadets used by fire crews in workshops with local schools and colleges throughout the year.
The cadets will be presented with their award, along with prizes to help them continue promoting road safety, at Brake's annual reception at the Houses of Parliament in January.
Also highly commended in the awards was Jordan Bone, of Kings Lynn in Norfolk, who at the age of 15 was left paralysed by a crash involving a young driver. With the help of the charity Fixers, Jordan produced an inspiring video aimed at encouraging young people not to take risks and exploring the consequences of crashes. She has hosted workshops with teenagers where she uses her story to urge them to be responsible as drivers and passengers, and is planning a wristband campaign focusing on the need to ‘Think Twice' before taking risks. View her video.
To take part in the 2young2die awards, young people are asked to plan and deliver an original road safety campaign, using guidance from Brake, with entries including videos, posters and interactive workshops. The aim is to raise awareness among young people and others about how they can protect themselves, friends and people around them on roads. Entrants are also challenged to raise funds in support of Brake's work campaigning for safer roads and supporting people bereaved and injured by crashes.
Brake is inviting young people, educators and youth workers to register now for the 2013-14 awards, by visiting www.2young2die.org.uk/awards to get a free e-action pack to help them take part.
Laura Wheelton, fire cadet watch manager at Congleton, says "Our friend and fellow cadet Hayley was killed in a road crash because of speed, so it's something that has affected us personally and that's why our film focuses on the consequences of speeding. We wanted to pass on the message that speeding needs to stop. We'd like to make more films both about road safety and other safety messages. It was a good feeling when we were told that we'd won the 2young2die award. We're proud that we have been able to turn something that has affected us so deeply into something positive.'
Paul Hancock, chief fire officer at Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service says "I am thrilled that the Cadets have won this fantastic award for a project I know they are passionate about. I am sure it will play a key role in helping us to educate young drivers in a bid to keep them safe on our roads."
Jordan Bone says "I'm really pleased that Brake has recognised my campaign and is helping me spread my message. My campaign is important to me because I want a positive to come out of a negative situation. I hope that by sharing my story, young people will realise how important their lives are and think before taking risks on roads. You only have one life and you should make the most of it. I've managed to turn my life around and I feel quite proud of myself for pursuing my campaign, something I wouldn't have thought I was capable of before the crash. If I could save one life then I will know it will have been worthwhile."
Rich Andrew, senior development officer at Brake, says "Young drivers are involved in one in four serious crashes on our roads, and often young people themselves are the victims. But young people can have a big impact in helping to put a stop to this needless loss of life and terrible suffering. The Cheshire Fire Service Cadets and Jordan Bone have shown great dedication to spreading road safety awareness and their powerful messages are reaching a large audience of young people. By promoting road safety and entering the 2young2die awards, other young people can make a difference in their community and support Brake's work helping families devastated by road crashes."
Ian Brown, managing director at iKube says "It is extremely important to promote road safety to young drivers, so iKube fully support Brake's campaign. Getting involved and campaigning to make their communities safer shows young people understand the dangers on the road and we hope they would identify these dangers when driving themselves. iKube fully endorse any activity that makes the roads safer for everyone and we feel that the 2young2die awards are a great way to get young people more active in road safety."
Road crashes are the biggest cause of death among young people [1], so raising awareness of road safety is vital. Young people have lots of choices to make about using roads safely and travelling in sustainable and active ways, and can help promote road safety by developing their own campaigns.
The 2young2die awards are all about young people taking action to make their communities safer and help their peer group protect themselves and others. They encourage using a range of media to promote messages that can save lives, prevent suffering, and promote socially-responsible lifestyles.
Young driver facts:
- Young people age 15-24 are more likely to die in a preventable road crash than they are to die from any other cause [2].
- A young person is hurt every ten minutes on UK roads. Every hour-and-a-half, another young person suffers a serious injury, in many cases a life-changing injury such as brain damage, paralysis or loss of limbs. Every 18 hours a young person is killed [3] in a violent road crash that it is within our power to prevent. For each death, devastated families and friends are left to cope with the shock and grief of knowing that a young life, full of promise, has been cruelly ended too soon.
- Young drivers are also involved in a disproportionately high number of crashes that kill and injure road users of all ages. While young drivers aged 17-24 account for one in eight (12%) licence holders [4], they are involved in one in four (24%) road deaths and serious injuries [5].
- An 18-year-old driver is more than three times as likely to be involved in a crash as a 48 year-old [6] and one in five new drivers has a crash within six months of passing their test [7].
- Young male drivers experience higher risk than females [8] and are involved in a greater number of crashes [9]. One young male driver in every 60 experiences a road crash involving the death or injury of themselves, a passenger or another road user each year in Britain [10].
- Age and inexperience combine to dramatically increase young drivers' risk of crashing [11]. Not only are young drivers more likely to take risks because of their youth, they are less able to cope with those risks because of their inexperience [12].
DATED: 19.07.13
FEED: HA
