Safety show for schools

Herefordshire Council's Road Safety Unit and Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service are joining forces to take a new kind of safety show into some of our high schools

SMARTRISK Heroes is an injury prevention show unlike any other, designed to take the audience on an emotional journey, highlighting risks we all take in our daily life and demonstrating how we can all take a smart risk. It is about developing people's own skills to recognise and manage risks so that they can keep taking smart risks for the rest of their lives.

The show uses a mixture of DVD presentation with fast moving images and loud music and a live presentation from injury survivors who speak candidly about the choices they or someone else made, which led to the injuries that changed their life. It shows that injuries can be prevented and that they don't always happen to other people.

The audience are challenged to take responsibility for their own actions and are presented with five choices; Buckle Up, Drive Sober, Look First, Wear the Gear and Get Trained. These five choices represent smart risk strategies which can and should be incorporated into their lifestyles in order to significantly reduce the chance of injuries.

"This is an excellent show which puts across really positive messages", said Councillor Brian Wilcox, Herefordshire Council's cabinet member for highways and transportation.

"Risk is a part of life; rather than telling students and young people not to do things it talks to them in their own language and presents them with strategies for managing risk," he added.

SMARTRISK Heroes will be going to four of our high schools during the week beginning on February 4 and will be seen by around 2,000 pupils.