Pictured above are Post 16 students, alongside Tracey Doherty (former Road Education Officer), Claire Murphy (Autoline Insurance Group) and Mrs Caroline Hughes (Teacher with responsiblilty for enrichment at Post 16).

In preparation for Road Safety Week, the ‘2 Young 2 Die’ Campaign was launched at St Paul’s.

Mrs Caroline Hughes, teacher with responsiblilty for enrichment at Post 16, felt this road safety initiative was a worthwhile part of the curriculum beyond the classroom.

This road safety initiative has been designed to get young people thinking about the consequences of dangerous driving and the responsibilities and risks associated with getting behind the wheel. The workshop is co-delivered by an Autoline Insurance Group and Tracey Doherty, former Road Education Officer.

The workshops are aimed at getting key road safety messages across to the age group who are most in need of road safety discussions as they learn how to drive or may be driving at this stage.

November is a good time to reinforce the key road safety messages as the winter months approach, the weather gets harsher and makes the roads more dangerous. Many pupils taking part today are young new drivers or learning to drive – this could be their first experience of driving in the winter so it’s important to try to educate the dangers on the roads and take steps to prevent any accidents. The workshop doesn’t just concentrate on drivers but also passengers too, it’s equally important they make the correct decisions as a passenger to increase safety in the car/journey.

St Paul’s is taking part in advance of Brake’s Road Safety week (17th -23rd November) – as the school wanted to support the national campaign by hosting Brake and Autoline’s ‘2 Young 2 Die’ workshops, encouraging all road users to look out for each other and save lives on roads.

The key messages which were emphasised to students are no driving on drink/drugs; always belt up; speed limits, braking/stopping distance. This is particularly important for our area Camlough/County Armagh – surrounded by rural roads that really have no speed limits. The workshop reinforces the dangers on rural roads ‘however well you know the road you don’t know what’s around the corner!’

See below for photos from the event.