The British Horse Society has produced an interactive road safety film after successfully securing a road safety grant from the Police and Crime Commissioner for Warwickshire.
The film follows a young driver who is faced with a series of hazards along his journey to collect friends for a party. Featuring four different hazard scenarios, the film invites the viewer to decide between two options on how the driver should navigate around each obstacle, leading to either a positive or negative outcome.
The scenarios presented in the film are designed to highlight the risks faced by vulnerable road users and the consequences that can occur if drivers do not adapt their driving behaviour appropriately around them. The scenarios featured within the video focus on what to do when:
- approaching changing traffic lights,
- approaching a blind bend,
- approaching a horse rider on a single track,
- approaching a stationary school bus dropping off children.
The BHS was able to produce the interactive film after successfully bidding for £40,000 of funding from the Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe’s Road Safety Fund.
Tracy Casstles, Director of Fundraising at the BHS, said “We are delighted to have secured the funding to produce this interactive video and continue the fantastic safety work of the BHS. Fortunately collisions where horse riders are seriously injured or killed in Warwickshire are extremely rare – the last horse rider seriously injured on our roads was in 2016. However the number of less serious and near misses reported to the British Horse Society through our Dead Slow campaign is extremely worrying and we will continue to work with the police to look for ways to improve road safety in Warwickshire.”
“We hope this video will serve as an important and engaging tool in reminding young drivers of the dangers and risks faced by a range of vulnerable road users.”
Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe said “I am delighted to be able to support this great initiative through the Road Safety Fund to help make young drivers aware of the risks and consequences when they start to drive.
“We want young people to be safer on our roads and this interactive video provides an opportunity to help reach new drivers not only in Warwickshire but nationally at a key point in their driving career, when they are still learning and receptive to new information.
“By educating young drivers we hope to also improve the safety of the increasing number of vulnerable road users such as cyclists, motorcyclists, pedestrians and horse riders, we are seeing on Warwickshire’s roads.
“From our work with The Honest Truth and First Car, we know from statistical evidence that the majority of collisions involving new and young drivers, aren’t due to poor driving skills, but as a result of the lack of decision-making skills and understanding of the dangers faced by new drivers. We hope this video will help to change that.”
The interactive video was one of eleven projects successful in securing part of the £392,252 Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner’s Road Safety Fund 2019/20 funding on offer to help support vulnerable road users and improve road safety in Warwickshire.
