Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

Bite CP designs help teachers keep child Road Safety alive in Bromley schools

October 16, Bromley ~ Thanks to design agency Bite CP, teachers in the London Borough of Bromley have had a new tool at their disposal this term, with the launch of “Your Streets”, a brand new web-based tool to help them teach and maintain awareness of Road Safety issues. Both teachers and children were consulted by Bite CP at an early stage and were instrumental in identify both the content and the tools which will make the project work.

It was warmly welcomed by teachers, who spend much of their time finding fresh new ways to bring dry subjects alive for their pupils and road safety is a particular concern as the dark nights draw in. National Statistics state that there were 258,404 reported casualties on roads in Great Britain in 2006 and the number of children killed or seriously injured was 3,294, of which 2,025 were pedestrians,

“Around 250 lives are needlessly lost each month on British roads and it is terrible to think that accidents like these can be avoided if all road users really had the will to avoid them. More must be done!” said Angus Culverwell, Principal Road Safety Officer for the London Borough of Bromley who is the instigator of the “Your Streets” concept. “Teachers often have a tough job to balance the needs of the Citizenship syllabus with traditional topics, but we feel we have achieved this as well as delivering direct support for the government’s Every Child Matters and Work Related Learning strategies.”

“Our challenge was to ensure that we could get across what is often troubling subject matter within the context of the PSHE* syllabus in an engaging and creative way to a wide age group and without being patronising.” Said Mark Lappin, MD Bite CP. “We felt that the initial focus on Maths and English offered teachers rich opportunities to communicate and illustrate road safety, as well as being fun and enjoyable for the pupils.”

Bite CP specifically designed the “Your Streets” site to enable teachers to create relevant lesson plans and exercises for all ages, within the Maths and English National Curriculum, by focusing on the topics of travel and road safety. At all times Bite CP endeavored to help teachers to embed road safety thinking and behaviour within normal lessons in a fun, interactive and relevant way. For younger pupils this might simply be to help them become more aware of the hazards around them. However the subject matter can be used for far harder-hitting exercises, such as those designed to help Year 11 pupils (i.e. those who are about to become learner drivers) become aware of the responsibility of driving and learn things of direct relevance to driving safely.

Examples of resources in “Your Streets” include:

•Data relating to local road accidents (Maths)
•Photographs of accident sites (Maths & English)
•Road safety adverts for discussion (English)
•Quizzes to use as lesson starter (Maths & English)
•Reaction time measurer (Maths)
•Extract from a novel about an accident (English)
•Word search (English)
•Stopping distances information sheet (Maths)

Angus Culverwell added that “Bite CP has yet again been able to use their design skill and understanding to turn a rather well-worn subject into something that is not just relevant and appealing to children, but also useful for teachers. This is a serious topic which might have been very dry indeed – instead, it will be a great addition to the curriculum.”


Notes for Editors:

Reviews – If editors would be interested to view the site please log on to www.yourstreets.co.uk and call or e-mail Alex Blomfield at Bite CP for login details and password. A variety of screengrabs and images are also available.
Bite CP is a full service graphic design agency providing innovative design campaigns across the multimedia spectrum. The Bite CP team is united by a desire to bring good ideas to life using creative design and thus help clients to achieve their business and communications aims. It has produced powerful integrated campaigns ranging from traditional to digital age design solutions for clients including major media companies, household brand names and many of local and national government agencies. Located in Lightwater in Surrey, Bite CP is perfectly positioned to compete strongly with central London and international design agencies. Further information about the company and its campaigns can be found at www.bitecp.com

The London Borough of Bromley covers 58 square miles, with 149 parks and 500 miles of roads and pavements. It has an extremely proactive Road Safety programme, which aims to educate road users of all ages to be safe, considerate and tolerant whether they walk, ride, drive or cycle. Every year Bromley reviews the casualties on its roads; about 20 people are injured on Bromley’s roads each week, one or two of them being children and roughly one of these casualties dies each month. Bromley works hard to prioritise road safety education and engineering measures. Information about its various programmes can be found at http://www.bromley.gov.uk/transportandstreets/roadsafety/

* PHSE stands for Personal Social and Health Education

Media contacts:

For Bite CP:
Claire Cranton, Director Potion Public Relations
Tel: 01753 498537
Email: claire@potionpr.com

Alex Blomfield
Bite CP
Tel: 01276 450881
Email: alex.b@bitecp.com

For the London Borough of Bromley:
Amy Bevins, Strategy Development Officer
Tel: 020 8313 4738
Email: amy.bevins@bromley.gov.uk