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

Road Safety Week 2014 takes place May 19-26, and teachers and child-carers are encouraged to sign up and plan activities. Brake, the road safety charity, which coordinates the week with the support of sponsor QBE Insurance, is calling on educators to help save young lives and raise awareness of key road safety messages by taking part.

Road Safety Week is a great opportunity for teachers, youth workers and early learning educators to engage pupils of all ages in life-saving lessons and encourage safer, more responsible road use throughout the community. It’s an engaging topic with plenty of scope for creative and interactive learning, while also meeting curriculum goals.

Educators can access free electronic resources and guidance to help them get involved. Go to www.brake.org.nz/roadsafetyweek to register to get a free e-action pack. This includes downloadable posters to display during the Week, advice, and case studies of what other educators have done in previous years.

There are also ideas for taking part in the week on the website, and links to useful resources from other organisations, such as Auckland Transport who are running competitions and organising events for schools in the Auckland region.
Every year Brake picks a theme to focus on through its Road Safety Week media campaign. Educators can choose to run their initiative on this theme or any other road safety topic, according to their priorities.

Brake’s main theme for 2014 is ‘Tune in’. Brake will be raising awareness of the importance of tuning in to road safety and giving it our full attention – particularly if we’re at the wheel, but also when we’re walking, cycling, skating, running, you name it – to keep ourselves and each other safe. 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, text, or other activity that can wait.

During the week, Brake will be particularly appealing to drivers to turn off their phones and never attempt to multi-task at the wheel. But this is also about everyone looking out for themselves and each other, however we’re using roads, by not speaking to someone else on the phone who’s driving, and taking care to stay focused while on foot or bike: including getting off the phone and taking out headphones.

Teachers and child-carers can also make their Road Safety Week activities a sponsored event in aid of Brake, helping the charity to continue its work promoting road safety, and develop its services supporting families bereaved and injured in road crashes. Ideas are available at www.brake.org.nz/fundraise.

Brake chief executive Mary Williams said: “Road safety is a critical issue, and educators can play a pivotal role in helping reduce the risks children, families and young people face – by teaching road safety, but also by raising awareness locally and encouraging people to tune in when out on the roads.

“There are endless options for getting involved, whether it’s teaching children about being bright and seen and paying attention to the road; educating teenagers about the dangers of mobile phones or MP3 players when driving, walking, or cycling; or campaigning for local drivers to switch phones off and not risk other distractions. The Brake website has ideas and case studies schools can draw on for inspiration; fill in the registration form and we’ll send you an e-action pack with guidance and downloadable posters to help you take part.”

Val Graham, marketing & communications manager at QBE Insurance said: “At QBE, we firmly believe that we have a responsibility to be a good corporate citizen in the communities in which we operate. 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.

“QBE sees the week as a great way to stimulate commitment – both personal and corporate – to road safety, and we are very pleased to continue with this community initiative.”