Educators Urged To Register For Road Safety Week And Get Free Educational Resources

Educators are being encouraged to take part in the 10th Road Safety Week (17-23 May 2021), which will involve hundreds of schools and childcare centres running road safety activities to help raise awareness of road safety issues.

This year the week will coincide with the UN Global Road Safety Week, and will focus on the topic of speed. In 2019, 1,020 children under the age of 15 and 1,795 young people aged 15-19 were killed or injured on NZ roads [1]. That’s an average of 54 children and young people – more than a classroom full – dying or suffering injuries as a result of road crashes every week.

Road safety charity Brake, which coordinates the week, is encouraging everyone who works with children to go to www.roadsafetyweek.org.nz/educators for ideas and to register for a free online action pack. This will include downloadable resources and activity ideas, interactive resources, activity sheets, advice and case studies showing how other schools have got involved in previous years.

This year’s Road Safety Week is sponsored by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, and will focus on the topic of speed. Speed is a significant road safety issue. Vehicle speed plays a part in every crash; the faster you’re travelling, the longer it takes to stop and the bigger the forces involved in a crash, meaning people are more likely to be killed or seriously injured.

Road Safety Week will encourage people to learn more about why speed is an important road safety topic, and show how we can all play a part in making roads safer. Educators can choose to run their initiative on this theme or any other road safety topic, according to their priorities.

Everyone who registers will have access to resources which support projects, lessons and workshops. These include whole-school assembly slides, fact sheets and activity sheets with a focus on speed.

Road Safety Week has been inspiring young people for ten years and is a great chance for teachers, youth workers and early-years educators to engage students of all ages in lessons and activities encouraging safe and responsible road use. It’s also a fantastic opportunity to get important messages home to parents and the wider community.

Caroline Perry, Brake’s NZ Director said: “Road Safety Week provides a unique opportunity, every year, to focus attention on how the safety of our roads impacts all our daily lives. Speed plays a part in every crash, and even small increases in speed can mean the difference between life and death on the road. This Road Safety Week we want to help everyone understand why speed matters and to join together to play their part in making our roads safer.

“Educators are pivotal in getting these vital messages out to families, young people and local drivers and making a difference to people’s lives. Hundreds of pre-schools, schools and colleges get involved in Road Safety Week every year, by running lessons, projects, fundraisers and local awareness campaigns for safer streets. I would encourage anyone who hasn’t already registered to head to www.roadsafetyweek.org.nz/action-pack and sign up now for their free action pack.”

Activities by age group

This year Brake is encouraging early years educators to hold a Beep Beep! Day with Timmy Time, a fun road safety day that teaches key, basic road safety messages to children aged 2-7, and also engages their parents and community. The next national Beep Beep! Day takes place during Road Safety Week, on Wednesday 19 May, with childcare centres around the country taking part.

Primary and secondary educators can find lots of suggestions for activities linked to lessons on the Road Safety Week web pages, from challenging students to devise their own road safety campaign, to learning about road safety as part of science, drama or other lessons.

Brake is also encouraging fundraising as part of Road Safety Week, to help the charity to continue providing free support to people affected by road crashes. Fundraising activities such as Bright Days and Go Yellow days all help to support the charity. Fundraising ideas can be found at www.brake.org.nz/fundraise.

[1] Annual road crash statistics – Road user casualties, Ministry of Transport, 2019

© Scoop Media