Sixth Form students have been to a theatre performance about road safety today. The performance explores how car passengers should behave during journeys, especially as they and their friends reach the age to drive themselves.
The interactive performance in the main hall was delivered by Box Clever Theatre and lasted about sixty minutes. The cast of three, Nat McCloskey, Joel Nash and Tahlia Norrish used drama, music and dance to create a piece called The Passenger about two young people, 18 and in love, who journey from a party to a seemingly inevitable fate.
Involving interaction with audience members, the actors included original witness statements, news reports and statistics as a way to ask how things could have been different and how a passenger can take steps to make driving safer for everyone.
Young drivers are more likely to have accidents in cars with nearly one in eight (nearly 12%) of all casualties hurt or killed involving a driver between the age of 17 to 19. This figure is more stark because 17-19 year olds make up only 1.5% of drivers.
Actor Nat McCloskey pointed out that of the students in the room, 30 were statistically likely to have an accident involving police attendance within six months of passing their test. The audience were reminded that the four main causes of vehicle accidents are: distraction, speeding, not wearing a seat belt and alcohol or drugs.
After the drama, the audience were asked about the actions of the passenger. Who was responsible? What was the cause of the accident? Could it have been prevented?
When the short discussion was finished, in a final comment on taking responsibility as a passenger Nat said: “Be the one to change the story.”