Categories: News

Children to be urged to ‘tune in’ to Road Safety Week

&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-767" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;04&sol;SND02-2-NWS-SAFETY&lowbar;&lowbar;300x225&period;jpg" alt&equals;"SND02-2-NWS-SAFETY 300x225" style&equals;"margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"225" &sol;>Road Safety Week 2014 takes place May 19-26&comma; and teachers and child-carers are encouraged to sign up and plan activities&period; Brake&comma; the road safety charity&comma; which coordinates the week with the support of sponsor QBE Insurance&comma; is calling on educators to help save young lives and raise awareness of key road safety messages by taking part&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Road Safety Week is a great opportunity for teachers&comma; youth workers and early learning educators to engage pupils of all ages in life-saving lessons and encourage safer&comma; more responsible road use throughout the community&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s an engaging topic with plenty of scope for creative and interactive learning&comma; while also meeting curriculum goals&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Educators can access free electronic resources and guidance to help them get involved&period; Go to www&period;brake&period;org&period;nz&sol;roadsafetyweek to register to get a free e-action pack&period; This includes downloadable posters to display during the Week&comma; advice&comma; and case studies of what other educators have done in previous years&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There are also ideas for taking part in the week on the website&comma; and links to useful resources from other organisations&comma; such as Auckland Transport who are running competitions and organising events for schools in the Auckland region&period;<br &sol;>Every year Brake picks a theme to focus on through its Road Safety Week media campaign&period; Educators can choose to run their initiative on this theme or any other road safety topic&comma; according to their priorities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Brake&&num;8217&semi;s main theme for 2014 is &&num;8216&semi;Tune in&&num;8217&semi;&period; Brake will be raising awareness of the importance of tuning in to road safety and giving it our full attention – particularly if we&&num;8217&semi;re at the wheel&comma; but also when we&&num;8217&semi;re walking&comma; cycling&comma; skating&comma; running&comma; you name it – to keep ourselves and each other safe&period; Brake will be asking everyone to pledge to tune in to road safety – that means promising to do your best to keep focused on the task at hand and never putting yourself or others in danger for the sake of a call&comma; text&comma; or other activity that can wait&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>During the week&comma; Brake will be particularly appealing to drivers to turn off their phones and never attempt to multi-task at the wheel&period; But this is also about everyone looking out for themselves and each other&comma; however we&&num;8217&semi;re using roads&comma; by not speaking to someone else on the phone who&&num;8217&semi;s driving&comma; and taking care to stay focused while on foot or bike&colon; including getting off the phone and taking out headphones&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Teachers and child-carers can also make their Road Safety Week activities a sponsored event in aid of Brake&comma; helping the charity to continue its work promoting road safety&comma; and develop its services supporting families bereaved and injured in road crashes&period; Ideas are available at <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;brake&period;org&period;nz&sol;fundraise" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">www&period;brake&period;org&period;nz&sol;fundraise<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Brake <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;2015&sol;10&sol;new-chief-executive-for-education-council&sol;" title&equals;"chief executive" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">chief executive<&sol;a> Mary Williams said&colon; &&num;8220&semi;Road safety is a critical issue&comma; and educators can play a pivotal role in helping reduce the risks children&comma; families and young people face – by teaching road safety&comma; but also by raising awareness locally and encouraging people to tune in when out on the roads&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;There are endless options for getting involved&comma; whether it&&num;8217&semi;s teaching children about being bright and seen and paying attention to the road&semi; educating teenagers about the dangers of mobile phones or MP3 players when driving&comma; walking&comma; or cycling&semi; or campaigning for local drivers to switch phones off and not risk other distractions&period; The Brake website has ideas and case studies schools can draw on for inspiration&semi; fill in the registration form and we&&num;8217&semi;ll send you an e-action pack with guidance and downloadable posters to help you take part&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Val Graham&comma; marketing &amp&semi; communications manager at QBE Insurance said&colon; &&num;8220&semi;At QBE&comma; we firmly believe that we have a responsibility to be a good corporate citizen in the communities in which we operate&period; This is one of the reasons that QBE Insurance in New Zealand is now in its third year of support for Brake and Road Safety Week&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;QBE sees the week as a great way to stimulate commitment &&num;8211&semi; both personal and corporate &&num;8211&semi; to road safety&comma; and we are very pleased to continue with this community initiative&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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