Celebrity support for 2Fast2Soon campaign

Date: 27/9/2012

Sir Bob Geldof and Nigel Mansell are among those supporting a campaign to cut the number of road deaths in young people in Lincolnshire.

The 2Fast2Soon campaign has been running for four years and has been re-launched in order to follow up the success it has had previously.

During the time that it has been underway, road deaths of 17 to 24-year-olds have been reduced by 50 per cent in the county.

The way that the campaign works is by engaging with students in an educational setting, in a bid to get them thinking before taking to the road.

A group made up of actors, survivors and members of the emergency services puts on a production which shows the story of a crash.

Due to the fact that many of those involved have experienced a similar scenario themselves, it helps to hit home with the students.

Workshops are then carried out with the young people, in which they are asked to identify what the potential dangers were in the production.

They are also asked to explain what they have learnt from the exercise, which is a common educational technique used to reinforce information and help it stick in a student’s mind.

By approaching road safety in an interactive manner, the students are not simply being told a message, but are engaged with the scenario and encouraged to offer their opinions and reasoning.

A skid simulator is also available as part of the campaign in order to show students how easily a vehicle can go out of control.

It also helps teach those who use it how to identify a hazard, which could lead them to skid, so that they can avoid it in the future.

As well as receiving celebrity backing, the scheme was given the Prince Michael of Kent Award for Road Safety in 2010, recognising its contribution to greater awareness of dangers in 17 to 24-year-olds.

Posted by Sarah Bailey

Transport Research News and Vehicle Safety News