Motorcycle industry targets young road user safety

1 July 2006

The Motor Cycle Industry’s educational resource, ‘LINKS - connecting Citizenship and Road User Education’ which is being distributed free of charge to all secondary schools, will help teachers achieve new targets set for the Government's ‘Every Child Matters’ initiative. In addition to LINKS being relevant to young people today, it is a resource that can work to supplement schools efforts to integrate.

The CD-Rom based resource incorporates road user education with the Key Stage 4 Citizenship syllabus and offers teachers and students the opportunity to explore issues such as Human Rights, Consumer Rights and Responsibilities and Crime, using road user education as the main focus.

The product is not motorcycle specific, but it does encourage teachers to talk about mopeds, scooters and motorcycles as well as cars and other modes of transport. To ensure that motorcycles are considered we have not only included them in the lesson content but we have also provided 'Get the Message: Act Your Age'.

This DVD was created by the MCI and is aimed at young people. It looks at issues including safety clothing and CBT. It uses an entertaining approach that the young people can relate to and there are a number of cast members aged within the target group. A comprehensive set of Teaching Notes were written to accompany the DVD and are available on the MCI website. This encourages teachers to look at issues raised in the DVD such as drink and drugs, insurance, and road safety in general. The film makes it clear that there are some very fashionable safety items for sale and that the stereotypical image of a 'safe' scooter rider is not necessarily true.

People who receive LINKS are welcome to contact MCIA for further copies as the aim is to distribute these to as many people as possible who can get road user education to young people. For further information on LINKS you can contact Jenny Luckman on 024 76250806 or email j.luckman@mcia.co.uk, samantha@mcia.co.uk, craig@mcia-pa.com. Website: www.mcia.co.uk