Braking Point: Powerful road safety show hits home with sixth form students

Highways and Transport

Sixth form students will "think twice" about the dangers faced by young drivers after taking part in a pilot that aims to reduce serious collisions involving young drivers.

In Lancashire, one in five casualties of all road traffic collisions are younger drivers aged 17-24, with males making up 65% of all of those killed or seriously injured.

Nationally, young, male drivers aged 17-24 years old four times more likely to be in an accident, while one in five drivers crash within a year of passing their test. According to road safety charity Brake, more than 1,500 young drivers are killed or seriously injured on UK roads every year.

In response to this, Lancashire County Council's road safety team commissioned a new theatre production, Braking Point, which features common scenarios that contribute to collisions, showing the behaviour of drivers and passengers that puts people at risk.

Joe Gaywood, who stars in Braking Point, said: "Braking Point is about a group of college students starting to learn to drive and wanting to be in each other's company, whilst driving together.

"Not only is it about driver safety, it is also about passenger safety. We are targeting sixth form and college students, so we are helping to change their attitudes before they are learning to drive, not only as drivers but also as passengers.

"Hopefully together, we can get the statistics and collisions for young drivers right down, as they are really high at the moment."

In the run up to Road Safety Week (17-23 November), Braking Point was performed at 10 sixth forms and colleges across the county.

Students and pupils also took part in a workshop to show who is most at risk of being in a crash, looking at the factors that increase the chance of being in a collision.

Year 13 pupils at Lancaster Royal Grammar School shared their feedback after the thought-provoking performance.

Alex Griffiths, 17, said:

"Watching Braking Point helped me to realise that a driving accident can happen to anyone, at any moment. It takes only a split second for something to go wrong.

"I realised that being a passenger can be just as important as being a driver and you don't hear about that aspect."

Angelow Jumon, 18, said the show made him "think twice", and was shocked to find out that being in a car with a passenger older than 35 reduced the risk of a collision by 62%.

"Watching the performance made it clear that a passenger can have a huge influence on the driver," he said.

"Hearing 'Jason' shout and how that led to the crash, really struck me."

Temilere Onikeku, 17, said:

"This performance was really informative and engaging at the same time as most car safety videos can be boring.

"The actors had really high energy levels and they passed that on to the crowds as well.

"In the performance, when the two boys were driving to college, the passenger was really distracting the driver. This shows that the passenger also has the responsibility in the car to minimise the risk levels and any chance of having an accident."

Actor Joel Lockhart hopes Braking Point makes young people think more carefully about all the dangers young drivers and passengers face.

Joel said: "We want to put a little voice into their head that while they are drivers and passengers, they have that extra moment of thought before they do anything, turn up music and create a sensory distraction or start filming their mate or encourage speeding.

"We want them to make sure that they are a safe as they can be on the roads and think about everything just one second more before they take any actions."

Jodie Weller, who also stars in the production, added: "This is a more engaging, different way of learning. We start with a performance, where the audience gets to know these characters, see their stories and the situations that they get into.

"Then we follow it up with a workshop, where we really home in on those statistics and the facts, to keep everyone safe."

The conclusion of the Braking Point tour comes as the county council's cabinet approve the Lancashire Road Safety Strategy 2025-2027. The strategy aims to coordinate the council's road risk reduction work, which targets significant at-risk groups of road users in Lancashire, over the next two years.

You can read the strategy here.

The full list of schools and colleges that hosted Braking Point are as follows:

1. Alder Grange
2. Bacup & Rawtenstall Grammar
3. Runshaw College
4. Hutton CE Grammar
5. Clitheroe Grammar
6. St Christopher's CE
7. Preston College
8. Burnley College
9. Lancaster Royal Grammar
10. Rossall Independent School