Performance Pulls No Punches On Consequences Of Teenage Car Crash

Actors from ‘Performance in Education’ deliver a hard-hitting message about road safety to students at Cleethorpes Academy. Pictured (l-r) are: Leon Priestley (Year 9), actors Sam Chisnall and Jenny Moore, Teacher Mr Dean Hand and Year 9 student Jamie Killingworth.

The consequences of not wearing a seatbelt and poor passenger safety were brought home to Cleethorpes Academy students in a hard-hitting production that showed the impact of a fatal car crash.

Actors from ‘Performance In Education’ are being sponsored by ‘Safer Roads Humber’ to deliver the message by acting out scenes that show the effects of a teenage boy’s death in a road traffic accident on those he leaves behind.

Entitled #YOLO (You Only Live Once), the performance follows Sam’s sister and father who are left behind to deal with the trauma of losing a family member as they try to find out what happened in the last few minutes of Sam’s life. The focus is on being a passenger in a car with a young driver. 

The project is designed to examine the responsibilities of passengers, challenging perceptions and preconceptions around being ‘just a passenger’ with no influence over how a car is driven. It investigates the consequences of poor attitudes and behaviour as a passenger; demonstrates and develops effective ways to challenge anti-social driving; encourages personal responsibility and identifies and investigates effective ways to challenge peer pressure. It also highlights the importance of wearing a seatbelt at all times within a vehicle.

Between 2016 and 2020, 39 young people were killed in road traffic accidents in the Humber region, with 93 others seriously injured. The age group most at risk are 12 to 15-year-olds. 

Performance in Education Team Leader, Jenny Moore explained why the workshops are so important. “The performance is designed to be in your face. To show the true impact of a young person’s death in a car crash on those they leave behind,“ she said.

“The 12-15-year-olds are most affected by road traffic accidents because this is the age that their siblings and older friends are starting to drive. We show how not paying attention to the road, passengers distracting the driver and not wearing a seatbelt can have tragic consequences. Figures show that you are twice as likely to die in a car accident if you are not wearing a seatbelt.”

After the performance, Year 8 and 9 students were asked for their thoughts on what happened and why. They were also shown a real-life case study of an American teenager who is seen taking a photo of herself as a passenger in her friend’s car, which she then posts to Instagram. Two minutes after the photo was taken she was killed when the car crashed. She was not wearing a seatbelt. Her three friends were, and they all survived.

Paul Kaylow, Vice Principal at Cleethorpes Academy, said the importance of the message cannot be under-estimated. “We are very aware of how dangerous the roads can be for young drivers who are distracted by their passengers and/or not wearing their seatbelts.

“This performance delivers a very strong message and pulls no punches with the aim of showing students just how serious the consequences of  a car accident can be.”

Jenny Moore, Team Leader for ‘Performance In Education’, takes questions from students at Cleethorpes Academy.