Keeping our roads safer by being responsible passengers

17-24 year olds are more likely to be involved in road accident than any other age group, and they are five times more likely to crash with a passenger in the car than driving alone!

These startling facts are why the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership visited Cowley Academy to speak to the whole of Year 11 in an assembly as part of our PSHE programme.

Even though our Year 11 students are not old enough to drive, we know that young adults aged 15-16 might start to be passengers with their peers who are aged 17+.

Andy Hall (pictured above) is the Road Safety Officer at Lincolnshire County Council and he has first-hand experience of the worry caused when one of his children was involved in a car accident. Thankfully they were not seriously injured, but it brings home that how it can happen to anyone at any time.

The assembly focussed on how our students can be responsible passengers to reduce the likelihood of being involved in an accident by raising awareness of the risks involved as passengers.

Some of the causes of accidents involve distracting the driver with a mobile phone or messing around, peer pressure to take risks or drive faster and being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

In this thought-provoking assembly, students learnt about hazard perception and techniques to manage peer pressure as passengers, so they don’t put themselves in danger. By educating our students with this information should help them and others in the future and keep our roads in Lincolnshire safer.