Pedestrian Safety Year 9 Large group Always ask the Tutor before hand if any of the students have been involved in accidents or know of family or friends who have died or have been seriously injured. Slide 1-Introduce yourself. X This lesson is all about risks you face on roads –as a pedestrian. During the session we will explore what I mean by the term ‘Vulnerable Road User’; have a look some statistics to see how many teenagers are affected by death and injury on roads, as pedestrians. There will be lots of opportunity for discussion as well as giving you some practical pointers as to how you can all reduce your chances of being knocked down or involved in a collision while out walking by the roads. Explain that during the presentation we are going to be talking about some issues and looking at some DVD clips that some of the students might find upsetting. Explain to the students that if at any time they feel uncomfortable or upset please ask to leave the classroom.(If this happens always find time to talk to the students afterwards) You will need internet access and to have found, on YouTube, the following (or other suitable clips on the topic of teenage pedestrian safety) : “Camera phone (teenagers)” at Slide 8; “Basketball and gorilla” at Slide 14; “Think! Teenagers” (My House) at Slide 20.

Travelling on which mode am I least likely to have an accident? Slide 2 Lets start off with a quick exercise….. Let's say I need to get from Gloucester to Edinburgh. I have a choice of modes of travel: I can fly, drive, take a bus or train, cycle, motorcycle, walk, or take a ferry. Now I agree that some of these are less practical than others − flying might be quite expensive, and walking would take several weeks − but we'll suppose I have plenty of time, the cost is not very important, and my only concern is safety. I wonder which method of travel carries the least risk of being killed in an accident? With your neighbours I want you to rank the different modes of travel from which you think are the ‘safest’ to the most ‘dangerous’. Lets hear what you think then & compare them to my statistics!

On which am I least likely to have an accident? 0.3 0.3 0.001 0.2 33 42 109 2.6 Slide 3 My statistics are for the UK and are in ‘deaths per billion passenger km travelled’ - so they show for every billion km travelled by each mode how many people will be killed on average in an accident of some sort. (figures 1998 – 07 averages from DfT 2008 report) X Plane – 0.001 X Ferry – 0.2 X Train & Bus – 0.3 X Car – 2.6 X Bicycle – 33 X Pedestrians – 42 X Motorcycle – 109 Do any of these surprise you? Quite a lot of us have phobias and are worried about flying or going in boats – not many of us have phobias about crossing the road…. We are often complacent about using roads because it’s something we do every day and it’s easy to forget the dangers. In fact, you’re about 13 times more likely to die in a car than in a boat and more than 15 times more likely to die as a pedestrian than in a car! deaths per billion passenger km travelled

THE FACTS: number of people involved in road crashes every day in the UK in 2012: Number of deaths Number of serious injuries Number of slight injuries 5 63 468 Slide 4 So road safety is a really important topic to cover because so many people are killed and injured on roads – and sadly many of them are teenagers. How many people do you think are killed, seriously injured or sustain slight injuries on roads every day in the UK. (Ask for responses from the group) The facts are that every day (2010 DFT) X 5 people are killed on British roads, X 68 people are seriously injured and a further X 490 have slight injuries. So let’s put that in some context :- for each of the 5 deaths a day, a family somewhere in the UK will have received a knock at the door from a police officer, to tell them that their loved one has been suddenly killed. Many of the 68 serious injuries a day are life-changing, such as brain damage, limb loss and paralysis. Road crashes differ from many other common causes of death in that they are always sudden and unexpected and they often affect children and young people. X Sadly road crashes are the biggest killer of 15-24 year-olds and the second biggest killer of 5-14 year-olds (after cancer) in Great Britain. Many of those killed and injured are your age! Road crashes are the biggest killer of 15-24 year-olds!

What is a ‘vulnerable road user’? Why are these types of road user vulnerable, compared to people in vehicles? They do not have a vehicle around them, helping to protect them in a crash This means if they are hit, they bear the full force of the impact Slide 5 Let’s have a think about what I mean by the term ‘Vulnerable Road User’. Many of the casualties on our roads are travelling in vehicles, but as we saw when we looked at how safe the different modes of travel were a large proportion of the casualties are pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. And we refer to people travelling by these modes as ‘vulnerable road users’. Vulnerable road users will also include people on horses! So : X Why are these types of road users are more vulnerable than people travelling in vehicles? What do you think? (Get their responses) X The major reason is that they do not have a vehicle around them, helping to protect them in the event of a crash. X If you’re on foot, bicycle, motorbike or horse and a vehicle crashes into you, you bear the full force of the impact. Think about it -if you’re in a car and another vehicle crashes into you, the car will help to absorb some of the impact –think of all the air bags and technology we have in cars to protect us these days! (although you can still be hurt or killed in vehicles, but it takes a lot more force to do it!). That doesn’t mean it’s better to travel in vehicles. Walking and cycling are more healthy and environmentally-friendly ways to travel. Plus if more people walked and cycled instead of driving, there would be less car journeys made and the safer our roads would be! But what it does mean is that when you do walk and cycle, it’s crucial to do everything you can reduce the chances of being knocked down and to help your mates do the same. Drivers do have a responsibility to drive safely, slow down and look out for vulnerable road users , but as we all know they don’t always remember that! X In truth we are all vulnerable road users – and we all need to look out for each other on the roads! Today we are going to concentrate on ‘Pedestrian Safety’ We’re all vulnerable road users – and we all need to look out for each other on roads

BRAINSTORM : - what types of behaviour put pedestrians at risk? Slide 6 There are certain situations in which pedestrians are especially vulnerable – due to their behaviour, the behaviour of other road users, or their surroundings. X So with your neighbours again I’m going to give you a few minutes to think about what types of behaviour put pedestrians at risk? So what have you come up with? (Gather & discuss their responses then compare to following list:)

Behaviours which put pedestrians at risk! Not looking or paying attention when crossing the road Running across the road Crossing between parked vehicles or near a bend Wearing dark clothes Mucking about with mates /pushing each other into the road Playing ‘chicken’ Slide 7 Let’s see what I had on my list: X Not looking or paying attention when crossing the road X Running across the road X Crossing between parked vehicles or near a bend X Wearing dark clothes X Mucking about with mates /pushing each other into the road X Playing ‘Chicken’ Which of the things on my list could endanger others as well as yourself? A lot of our behaviour on roads can affect others as well as ourselves – we might get away with it and be alright but what would you feel like if your mate ended up dead or seriously injured because of something you did? Let’s have a bit of a break and look at a short video clip:-

Show ‘Camera phone (teenagers)’ clip at this point Slide 8 (Play the camera phone clip at this point). Ok I don’t think I need to say a lot more about that- it sums up a lot of what we have been talking about.

BRAINSTORM : - what types of situations put pedestrians at risk? Slide 9 So with your neighbours again I’m going to give you a few minutes to think about what types of situations or what type of environments put pedestrians at risk – these might be things that are beyond the pedestrians control? So what have you come up with? (Gather & discuss their responses then compare to following list:)

Situations which put pedestrians at risk! When they are distracted or impaired e.g. using a mobile phone or i-pod Around fast-moving traffic When it’s dark, raining, foggy or icy When there’s no pavement When the driver is distracted, drunk, on drugs or angry Slide 10 X When they can’t be seen X When it’s dark, raining or foggy X When they are distracted or impaired, such as by a mobile phone or if they are drunk X When there’s no pavement X Around fast-moving traffic Discuss which of these situations are down to the pedestrians own behaviour, and other road user’s behaviour (such as drivers driving too fast), and which are due to other factors (such as bad weather or lack of a footpath). Pedestrians can often take steps to avoid risky situations, such as choosing a route that avoids fast roads, and wearing high-visibility gear in bad weather. Having established why and when pedestrians are at risk lets now move on and see which pedestrians are most at risk:-

Slide 11 Bringing this to the local level, and looking specifically at pedestrians, this is a graph showing Gloucestershire’s Pedestrian Casualties for the five years 2008 to 2012. What do you notice? Draw attention to teenagers and 80+ groups and discuss We can see that in Gloucestershire (and in fact the rest of the UK) the age 10-14’s are the most vulnerable group of pedestrians.

FACT: teenagers are more likely to be killed or injured while walking than under-11s BRAINSTORM: Why do you think young people your age are the most at risk pedestrians? Slide 12 The fact is that people your age are much more likely to be killed or injured while walking than younger kids. So let’s go back to your neighbours and this time brainstorm the question:- X Why do you think young people your age are the most at risk pedestrians? So what have you come up with then? ( Gather & discuss their responses & then compare to the following list:)

Teenage risk factors Less likely to be accompanied by an adult Might put each other at risk by mucking about near roads Distraction by mobile phones, i-pods or mates Slide 13 Possible answers include: X Teenagers are more likely to be out and about on their own or with friends (as opposed to being accompanied by an adult) X Teenagers might put each other at risk by mucking about near roads – even pushing each other into roads or playing dare X Teenagers are more likely to get distracted while walking by mobile phones, i-pods or just by their mates I want to do a little bit more now on the effects of being distracted and how difficult it actually is to concentrate on doing more than one thing at a time. For this exercise I will need complete silence – if you have seen this video clip before, please keep quiet and don’t spoil it for your mates! Is everyone ready – I do need you to stay completely silent for this…. You are about to watch a clip of a basket ball game – I want you to count the number of passes the white team make. So just concentrate on the white team and count how often they pass the ball to each other……

Show ‘Basket Ball’ video clip at this point Slide 14 (play ‘Basket ball and gorilla’ clip – don’t announce it as that though!) How many passes did they make? (17) But hands up if you saw the gorilla? Who is going to be honest enough to admit to not seeing the gorilla? Let’s watch it again…… X (click the hand shaped cursor on the middle of the screen to run the clip again) How on earth did we miss it? The fact is we were concentrating so hard on counting the passes that we didn’t see it…..I hope that makes the point when we are not paying complete attention to something / concentrating on something else we miss things! Even quite big things – hands up if you have like me every walked straight into a lamppost or sign or wheelie bin, something really quite large simply because we weren’t paying attention and we didn’t notice it! Our brains actually find it difficult to do two things at once. Let’s return to our list of teenage risk factors..

Teenage risk factors Less likely to be accompanied by an adult Might put each other at risk by mucking about near roads Distraction by mobile phones, i-pods or mates Belief that they are immune to the risks Judgement of speeds & risks Slide 15 So we have said they are less likely to have adult supervision and covered the distraction and behaviour risks what’s next… X Teenagers may feel more complacent about traffic and believe that they are immune to the risk of getting knocked down because they feel they’re old enough to know what they’re doing around roads – this may mean they’re less likely to take care X Judgement of speeds & risks – you are still learning to judge and assess speeds and what are ‘acceptable’ risks – so you make mistakes!

THE FACTS: speed and stopping distances Slide 16 One of the main things that puts pedestrians at risk is drivers driving too fast – which is why it’s a good idea to avoid walking on or near any roads with fast traffic if you can. The rules of physics mean that, no matter how fast a driver’s reaction times, the faster they drive, the longer it takes them to stop, and the harder they hit. Stopping distances increase hugely as a driver’s speed goes up. X In dry weather, the typical stopping distance at 30mph is 23 metres. However, if the driver increases their speed by a third to 40mph, their stopping distance increases by half – to 36 meters. That means if you run into the road without looking properly and a car’s travelling towards you at 40mph, if it’s less than 36 meters away it will hit you. (if time & space allow measure out 20 or 30mph stopping distance) X The faster drivers go, the less time they have to react to people and hazards Bear in mind that the majority of drivers do break speed limits at one time or another. That means that if you’re on a 30mph road, you can expect many of the vehicles on it to be going faster than 30mph – don’t presume that traffic will be within the speed limit on that road. Also bear in mind that stopping distances are greatly increased in wet or icy weather and if drivers are distracted or impaired (e.g. because they’re talking on a mobile, tired, or have been drinking). It may also take drivers longer to stop if visibility is poor and it’s therefore harder to spot people on foot . If you’re on foot never take a chance and presume that a driver will be able to spot you and stop in time. Only cross when you’re 100% sure it’s safe and there’s nothing coming. The distances shown are a general guide. The distance will depend on the driver’s attention (thinking distance), the road surface, the weather conditions and the condition of the vehicle at the time. Crown copyright, Official Highway Code 2007 The faster drivers go, the less time they have to react to people and hazards

The big difference that a few MPH can make 2 identical cars travelling side by side in a 30 mph limit 30 mph A 32 mph B Car B will be travelling at 11 mph when Car A is at rest Slide 17 Here is an example of just how much difference a small increase in the speed of a vehicle could make to YOUR chances of survival. X Imagine 2 identical vehicles with identical drivers [same age, etc] travelling down a one way street, side by side, in a 30mph limit X Driver of car A travelling is at 30 mph, the maximum legally permitted speed, and the driver of car B is travelling at 32 mph – only 2 mph over the speed limit One of YOU is late for the bus and you run across the road. In the distance, both drivers see you and begin to brake with all their strength - Car A manages to stop just before hitting you. X Car B does not stop in time - Ask the group what speed car B is doing ,when it smashes into the student? X Reveal answer 11 mph If the speed was increased on a motorway 70 mph for driver A and 100 mph for driver 2 . What speed would vehicle B be doing as they passed that same line. Answer 72 mph You could show the video ‘This video will change your mind about speed’ at this point.

Pedestrians killed Percentage Killed Speed in MPH Slide 18 The graph clearly shows how the death rate dramatically rises between 20mph and 40mph. X REVEAL RED DOTTED LINE – if for example you are travelling at 35mph in a 30mph zone, the likelihood of killing a pedestrian increases by 35%. If a vehicle hits someone at 20mph, there is a very good chance that they will live. If it hits them at 40mph, they’ll almost definitely die. The faster the speed, the bigger the mess! These figures also show why breaking a 30mph speed limit – even by a little bit – is such a dangerous thing for drivers to do. That’s why we are getting new speed limits of 20mph around schools and homes – and why it is so important that drivers obey them! Discuss the roads around the school – what are the speed limits? Do the students feel vulnerable if they have to cross these roads? (If you have a map of the area you could point out the danger spots.) Speed in MPH

Walk smart SMART CHOICES: When crossing, focus on the road – not your mates or your mobile Cross in places where drivers can see you easily Go back to basics – stop, look, listen & THINK! Don’t muck about near roads or put your mates at risk Wear something bright and choose safe routes Don’t assume drivers always do the right thing Slide 19 So what smart, safe choices should we make while walking? X When crossing, focus on the road – not your mates or your mobile. Don’t get complacent about traffic – pay attention to the roads and traffic around you and make sure you’re not distracted when crossing roads. If you’re on the phone, tell the other person to hold on, and resume the conversation once you’re across the road. It’s harder to think about two things at once than you might think. X Cross in places where drivers can see you easily. THINK about where it’s safest to cross roads. Use crossings where you can - don’t cut across the road before you get to the crossing just to save a few seconds. If there’s no crossing, make sure you’re crossing where drivers can see you easily. X Go back to basics – stop, look, listen & THINK - Don’t think you can forget the green cross code because you’re a bit older now! It’s so simple and it could save your life. If you need to cross, stop, look both ways, listen, and only cross if there’s nothing coming. Keep looking and listening while you cross. X Don’t muck about near roads or put your mates at risk - Don’t muck about in or near roads. If you want to muck about, do it in a park or garden where you can really fool about without worrying about the traffic. And never do anything to put your mates at risk - mates are supposed to look out for each other. Think how you’d feel if you were responsible for one of your mates getting killed or suffering life-changing injury. X Wear something bright and choose safe routes - In autumn and winter have something on you that’s bright and reflective if you’re out and about in dark or gloomy weather. Some coats and trainers have reflectors built in too. The best material is called ‘retro-reflective’ so drivers can see you from much further away. Also choose safe routes. Avoid roads with fast traffic and ones with no pavement if you can. Is the route you take to school or your mate’s house the safest one? X Don’t assume drivers always do the right thing – they might be speeding, using a mobile phone, distracted or drunk and not notice you!

Show ‘Think! Teenagers’ (My House) clip at this point Slide 20 Show ‘Think! Teenagers’ clip at this point Please don’t let it happen to you! Gloucestershire Road Safety Partnership 01452 425662 August 2013