"Brake" Time at SETA

Engineering apprentices braved the cold to take part in a stopping distances challenge in the car park at The Southampton Engineering Training Association (SETA) as part of Road Safety Week 2020 (16-22 November 2020).

Their morning briefings this week saw the apprentices discuss various aspects of road safety as part of the national campaign. Road Safety Week is the UK's biggest road safety event, coordinated annually by Brake, the road safety charity. It aims to inspire schools, organisations and communities to take action on road safety and promote life-saving messages during the week and beyond, and supports people affected by road crashes and campaigns for safe and healthy mobility for all.

Last year in the Thames Valley and Hampshire an average of 4 young people per week were killed or seriously injured. Young drivers are much more likely to be involved in a crash on the roads, often due to inexperience and a lack of knowledge of the risks.

To support this year’s campaign message of No Need To Speed staff at SETA donned hi-vis clothing, while the students took part in a “Guess the stopping distance” challenge. Cones were used to mock up stopping distances to demonstrate the higher the speed, the harder the crash and the greater the risk of death and injury. The week’s activities were aimed at inspiring the apprentices to learn what safe speeds are and reminding everyone how the speed they travel affects other people.

Josh Harris, director of campaigns at Brake, said: “In a crash, just 1mph can mean the difference between life and death, but sadly we know that many people still regularly break the speed limit or travel too fast for the conditions of the road. With someone injured on a UK road every four minutes, and vehicle speed playing a part in every crash, it’s never been more important that we all shout out that there is No Need to Speed.”

The Safeguarding Team at SETA were on hand for anyone that needed to talk. Tracy Simper, Pastoral Support, said “Road safety is such an important message to get out to our apprentices. They are a high risk group with 1 in 4 deaths on the road being a young person aged 17-24. This week has been a success with the various discussions that have taken place. The questions being asked by them is reassuring that hopefully the message is getting through. This is another life topic that the engineering apprentices will have covered during their time at SETA before going back to their employers after their off the job workshop training.”