Last week in College, Cleveland Fire Brigade delivered a series of talks and a live demonstration to students at Hartlepool College of Further Education. Andrew Bright, Learn & Live Co-ordinator, spoke to groups of learners to increase their awareness of road safety, high risk groups such as prospective drivers, new drivers, passengers and other road users. Andrew also discussed the consequences of risk-taking and poor driving while signposting new drivers to approved driver/rider training in partnership with the Cleveland and Durham Casualty Reduction Group.
The team then gave a live demonstration where they extracted four volunteer students from a vehicle, cutting the roof off to remove the driver from the vehicle. The volunteers, Chloe Vickers, David Reeve, Leah Cornforth and Brandon Wren talked about how impactful this was. “Being in the vehicle was quite claustrophobic but it made you appreciate how difficult it can be to get someone out of a damaged vehicle”. Chloe Vickers was behind the wheel and noted that it took over 30minutes for her to be safely removed from the vehicle. “I definitely appreciate how difficult it is to remove someone from a vehicle and how much work this takes for all of the emergency services.”
Learn and live is delivered with partners such as Cleveland Police, the North East Ambulance Service and Local Authorities. It also features two members of the public, Jan Woodward and George Galli-Atkinson who both lost daughters in road traffic collisions. Since starting in 2005, over 65,000 people across Cleveland have seen it and each year they deliver over 100 presentations in schools, colleges and vocational skills training centres targeting years 11, 12 and 13.
Did you know?
- In the UK one in eight driving licence holders are aged 25 or under, yet one in three drivers who die on the roads is under 25
- An 18 year old driver is more than three times as likely to be involved in a crash as a 48 year old
- One in five new drivers crash within six months of passing their test
More information and resources can be found here >> http://www.clevelandfire.gov.uk/safety/road-safety/ #HCFERespect
