1. Brake supports the Decade of Action for
SPEED
Workshop (KS1)
Brake’s KS1 Speed lesson discusses road safety, with a particular emphasis on the dangers of speeding – something that puts kids’ lives at risk every single day.
One in four deadly crashes in the UK involves someone who was driving too fast.
40 children are killed or seriously injured on our roads every single week.
It’s so important to talk to children about basic road safety messages, and also remind parents, carers and other adults of their responsibilities when it comes to keeping our roads safe and protecting young lives.
This lesson on Speed supports Brake’s poster competition, where children aged 4–11 have the chance to design a powerful road safety poster about the danger of fast traffic. Winning designs will be made into big banners, to be displayed outside schools or in the local community. Children can also win vouchers for themselves and their school, and a visit from Brake’s mascot, Zak the Zebra!
The lesson is designed to get pupils to think about dangers on the road, before deepening their knowledge about why speeding traffic is particularly dangerous, and why adults drive too fast and put lives at risk.
Aim: Discuss some of the dangers children might face as they travel on our roads. Discuss why fast traffic is so dangerous. Consider why adults drive too fast, and what can be done to slow traffic down. Talk about Brake’s road safety poster competition, and encourage children to design their posters.
Resources needed:
[Slide 2: optional] For the Green Cross Code, you might want to create a “road” in the classroom, laying a long strip of paper across the room to act as a kerb, with boxes or chairs representing cars, and have your children practice crossing safely. Alternatively, you could print or write out each of the Green Cross Code steps on a separate piece of paper or card, asking five volunteers to hold one each. Read out each card, and then ask the children to decide what order the volunteers should stand in.
[Slide 8] Internet connection to play the video.
A print-out of the poster competition template for each child in your class, plus a few spares.
Drawing materials (crayons, paint, coloured pencils etc).
1 x Poster competition entry form, for you to fill in once your class has completed their posters.
Organised by
Sponsored by
Supported by
Brake supports the Decade of Action for
Road Safety

2. 1. THINK FIRST: Find a safe place to cross
2. STOP just before you get to the kerb
3. LOOK ALL AROUND for traffic and LISTEN
4. IF TRAFFIC IS COMING, LET IT PASS
5. WHEN IT’S SAFE, walk straight across the road
Today we are going to be thinking about fast traffic, and why fast traffic makes our roads so dangerous.
But before we do, let’s remind ourselves of how we keep safe when we’re crossing the road.
[You might want to create a “road” in the classroom, laying a long strip of paper across the room to act as a kerb, with boxes or chairs representing parked cars, and other children acting as moving cars. Have several volunteers roleplay the steps below.
You could also print or write out each of the Green Cross Code steps on a separate piece of paper or card, asking five volunteers to hold one each. Read out each card, and then ask the class to decide what order the volunteers should stand in.]
Ask the class to call out what they think the steps of the Green Cross Code are, then reveal them one at a time:
THINK FIRST – find a safe place to cross.
If possible, cross the road at: subways, footbridges, traffic islands, zebra, pelican, puffin or toucan crossings, or where there is a crossing point controlled by a police officer, a school crossing patrol or a traffic warden.
Otherwise, choose a place where you can see clearly in all directions, and where drivers can see you.
Try to avoid crossing between parked cars and on sharp bends or close to the top of a hill. Move to a space where drivers and riders can see you clearly.
There should be space to reach the pavement on the other side.
2. STOP JUST BEFORE YOU GET TO THE KERB.
Do not get too close to the traffic. If there is no pavement, keep back from the edge of the road but make sure you can still see approaching traffic.
Give yourself lots of time to have a good look all around.
3. LOOK ALL AROUND FOR TRAFFIC AND LISTEN
Look in every direction. Listen carefully because you can sometimes hear traffic before you can see it.
4. IF TRAFFIC IS COMING, LET IT PASS.
Look all around again and listen.
Do not cross until there is a safe gap in the traffic and you are certain that there is plenty of time.
Remember, even if traffic is a long way off, it may be approaching very quickly.
5. WHEN IT’S SAFE, WALK STRAIGHT ACROSS THE ROAD.
Always walk across, never run.
Keep looking and listening for traffic while you cross, in case there is any traffic you did not see, or in case other traffic appears suddenly.
Look out for cyclists and motorcyclists travelling between lanes of traffic.
Do not cross diagonally.

3. REMEMBER… Always cross busy roads with an adult!
Look after each other.
Hold hands.
Don’t run ahead.
Emphasise that the children should be with an adult when they are crossing the road.
We look after each other. We hold hands, or we hold onto the pushchair or buggy, and we don’t run ahead.

4. Danger zone!
Have you seen any children do dangerous things while walking, cycling or in cars?
Have you seen any adults do dangerous things while walking, cycling or in cars?
Ask the class to call out times when they’ve seen other children (their age, younger or older) do dangerous things while walking, cycling or in cars. (For example, kids pushing each other into the street, running across the road, cycling without a helmet, undoing their seatbelt in the car.)
They don’t have to say who it was! Just describe what they saw and why it was dangerous.
Get them to write key words and phrases in the left hand box (or even draw simple pictures).
Now ask the class to call out things they have seen adults do that are dangerous. For example, driving while talking on a mobile phone or while distracted, driving too fast, parking on the yellow lines outside the school, crossing the road in a dangerous place. Put these in the right-hand box.
Both children and adults sometimes do dangerous things on roads. Tell your class that it’s up to them to make smart choices to keep themselves safe. They can help their friends and family stay safe too by standing up for safety when they see someone doing something dangerous.

5. Danger zone!
One of the most dangerous things that adults can do is to drive too fast.
Driving fast is very dangerous, especially in places where there are lots of people, near shops, schools and houses.
The faster traffic goes, the more dangerous it is. If a driver is going fast, it takes them much longer to stop in an emergency, and they crash harder.

6. Noisy! Why is fast traffic so bad?
Can you think of (or can you remember, if you have already run Brake’s Speed assembly) some other reasons why fast traffic is so bad?
It is dangerous. Traffic sometimes crashes. People die or can be hurt very badly if they are in a crash. Lots of crashes happen because a driver is driving too fast to stop. [click red circle]
It is scary – fast traffic zooming past us, or nearly being hit by a car, can be very frightening. [click blue circle]
It is noisy. [click yellow circle] [play sound effect]
It causes pollution and global warming, and makes the air dirty so it’s harder for plants, animals and people to breathe. [click grey circle]
It might put us off walking or riding our bicycles. [click green circle]

7. What slows traffic down?1 3 2 4
What slows traffic down? 5
Can you think of (or remember, if you have already run Brake’s Speed assembly) some of the things that can slow traffic down, so that roads around our schools and homes can be safer?
[click on the numbers to make the pictures appear as the children make the suggestions below]
1. slow speed limits for drivers
2. signs showing that children are crossing
3. pedestrian crossings
4. lollipop man or woman
5. speed bumps
6. zebra crossings
7. traffic lights
8. speed cameras 8 6 7

8. https://youtu.be/IRAqhQyyqRY
Play the “Speeding is Naughty” video.

9. Rosie Hutton, aged six, said: “Speeding is naughty
Rosie Hutton, aged six, said: “Speeding is naughty. If you drive too fast you could hurt me. Cars are made of metal – I am not! Please drive slowly near my school.”
Rosie Hutton, who is the girl in the video, tells grown-up drivers:
“Speeding is naughty. If you drive too fast you could hurt me. Cars are made of metal – I am not! Please drive slowly near my school.”
What would you like to tell grown-ups about driving too fast?

10. Well, here is your chance to tell Mums, Dads and other grown-ups what YOU think about speeding and fast traffic!
Brake’s road safety poster competition
We’ve talked about some things that are dangerous and safe on roads.
We’ve talked about one of the biggest dangers – fast traffic – and about how the faster it goes, the more dangerous it is.
We have also talked about why people might drive too fast, and about some of the things that can be done to slow traffic down.
Now it’s time to put on your artist’s berets! The road safety charity Brake, which helps people who have been badly hurt in road crashes, and the families is running a road safety poster competition. Brake is asking children to design a road safety poster about SPEED.
Posters should explain to adults why driving fast is bad. We’d like to see some bold, bright, imaginative designs, perhaps including some facts about speeding, or simple statements about slowing down and staying safe on our roads.
The children who design the winning posters will win vouchers for themselves and the school; a school visit from Brake’s mascot Zak the Zebra; and your design will be made into a big banner to go on display near school.
[Note for teachers: The competition closing date is 4pm on Friday 30 June Please make sure you allow enough time to collect everyone’s posters and submit them to Brake! Please make sure that each poster is clearly labelled with the child’s name, age and school. For full details, see the back of the entry form.]