It is Road Safety Week, and Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service is using the opportunity to launch an initiative to help young people understand the consequences of their behaviour when driving.

‘SDSA 360 VR’ provides a follow-up to the established Safe Drive Stay Alive education programme. The service is leading on the scheme on behalf of the Wiltshire and Swindon Road Safety Partnership and Dorset Road Safe, and it is sponsored by sustainable mobility specialist, Arval UK.

DWFRS Road Safety & Partnerships manager, Christine Sharma, said: “Every year, students from Years 11 to 13 are invited to view the emotive Safe Drive Stay Alive presentation. This new initiative is available for teachers to deliver to students they feel may benefit from a more immersive, practical session. The 50-minute lesson allows young people to fully experience the consequences of good and poor decision-making. It’s important that members of the community are aware of the technology, to act as ambassadors in their own right, which is why this reveal during Road Safety Week is so important.”

The lesson ties in with the Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) curriculum and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and will be available to schools on request, as long as students have already seen the Safe Drive roadshow, either online or in person.

Supported by teaching materials provided by the road safety team, the 360° experience includes a seven-minute film, where the student is in the front seat passenger in a car. Through the headset, they see and hear everything that happens when poor decisions are made, up to and including emergency response teams attending to them in the vehicle.

This is followed by another film, where better choices are made by the driver and the passengers in the car.

Ms Sharma said: “The lesson plan has been developed by our road safety team and teachers can book for up to 15 students at a time. Our staff, partners or volunteers will support delivery by operating the technology whilst the teacher delivers the lesson. The aim is to help students recognise how peer relationships can impact driving behaviours – both positively and negatively – and how they can address concerns about someone’s driving when they are a passenger. Our only requirements are that the young people taking part have seen the main Safe Drive Stay Alive show, and there is parental/carer consent if they are under 18.”

To book the virtual reality lesson, teachers should contact their local road safety coordinator: hannah.lynch@dwfire.org.uk for Dorset and BCP council areas.