And the Winner is… Road Safety Inspiration from the Oscars
Hollywood is abuzz with excitement over this Sunday’s Oscars ceremony… will La La Land sweep the board? Whose gown will make the front pages? And will the host live up to the high standard set by the Chuckle Brothers? What? … the Chuckle Brothers? Yes, that’s right, the slapstick comic duo Barry and Paul you may remember from CBBC TV series Chucklevision.
So what have the Chuckle Brothers got to do with the Oscars?
Well, okay, not the actual Academy Awards Oscars ceremony in Hollywood, but something closer to home and more about saving lives than selling films; the Road Safety Oscars award ceremony, or #RSOscars, run by South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership each year. Paul and Barry Chuckle were star presenters for the awards ceremony last year in Sheffield and were joined by X Factor contender Che Chesterman to entertain an audience of 11 to 16 year olds from across South Yorkshire.
Creative Challenge for Road Safety
The red carpet was rolled out to welcome the students and staff who had all taken up the challenge laid down to produce a drama piece, animation, dance piece or fashion item with a specific road safety message. A number of awards were presented to groups of pupils including Best Road Safety message to students at Heatherwood School for their eye-catching stop motion animation.
Being Recognised
The pupils clearly enjoyed the chance to dress up, be entertained and be recognised for their efforts. ‘It’s about influencing other younger children as well’ and ‘It’s good to work with professionals’ were just two of the comments made on the evening.
Joanne Wehrle, Interim Safer Roads Partnership Manager explained ‘This is the third year we have done this event… It’s recognition of all their hard work… and it’s an incentive for students in future years to take up the challenge and be part of the project. It is a fantastic project which, with the help of the students taking part, extends the reach of road safety messages far beyond what we would be able to achieve. By asking the students to perform or diplay their work in school we effectively get the road safety message out to many more students. And the event at Sheffield City Hall to present the awards to the winning entries is just the icing on the cake.’.
Reaching Those Most in Need
Road safety education is usually a challenge for this age group. It doesn’t easily fit into the core curriculum and there are so many other pressures on pupils’ and teachers’ time. However, the number of child pedestrian casualties on the roads rises significantly from the age of 11, as shown on this graph for Sheffield. So it is important to reach this group
The Road Safety Oscars is an effective and innovative way to influence a large number of this hard-to-reach group with limited staff and encourage them with peer-to-peer road safety education.
Try This In Your Area
A successful project like this is great to hear about but even better if it can inspire other similar initiatives within other road safety teams. If you would like more information on the scheme check out their youtube video or contact Joanne Wehrle at South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership; joanne.wehrle@sheffield.gov.uk or telephone 01709 832369.
(Images copyright and used with kind permission of South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership)