LV= Streetwise Safety Roadshow

For more details, click on an event in the table below to visit its website. This will open in a new window.

What safety themes does the LV= Streetwise Safety Roadshow cover?
It covers three key themes – the home plus road and railway safety. In the 'home' section, children identify hazards in a life-size kitchen and lounge, learning about the dangers of plug sockets, kitchen fires, drinking hazardous liquids, as well as how to react in an emergency situation. For the road section, children take part in an interactive hazard spotting simulator, illustrating to children how they appear to motorists. In the rail section children are educated on how to cross a level-crossing safely.

How much does it cost to take part in the LV= Streetwise Safety Roadshow?
It's completely free – the aim is to ensure young people get a head start in their safety education, in order to reduce accidents and save lives.

Why is LV= investing in this activity?
LV= has a long-term commitment to child safety as a founding sponsor of the LV= Streetwise site, a fully interactive safety 'village' in Bournemouth which has trained 13,000 young people in the past year. As an insurer, we also feel we have a duty to educate families about preventing risk and promoting safety. With over two million children taken to hospital every year for accidents that could have been prevented (CAPT) and over 20,000 injured on the roads last year we believe that both children and parents could benefit from greater safety education initiatives, which is why we've launched the LV= Streetwise Safety Roadshow.

What age-group is the road show intended for?
The LV= Streetwise Safety Roadshow is primarily intended for 5-11 year olds, and their parents, but all members of the family are welcome and we encourage them to learn together.

How did you develop the Streetwise concept?
LV= has sponsored the LV= Streetwise safety centre in Bournemouth for 12 years, and we were one of the founding sponsors. LV= Streetwise provides safety education to over 13,000 children a year, helping to prevent countless accidents. In extending this concept to the road, LV= Streetwise worked with experts at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT), Dorset Fire and Rescue Service, Network Rail and Bournemouth Road Safety to put together an experience that teaches young people valuable lessons to prevent and minimise accidents.

Has anything like this been done before?
Not as far as we’re aware. We believe this mobile safety centre is the first of its kind. 'Stationary' safety villages do exist, such as the LV= Streetwise safety centre in Bournemouth, but what we wanted to do was ensure more children get the opportunity to benefit from safety education by creating a safety experience that could tour the UK. The key difference in the LV= Streetwise concept (both the Safety Bus and the centre in Bournemouth) is that children experience scenarios in a controlled environment but ‘real-life’ setting, helping them to apply their learning to everyday life.

How many children die in preventable accidents?
Every year over 2m children are taken to hospital as a result of preventable accidents, and they are the most common cause of death of children aged over one year. It's been estimated in the past that treating children’s accidents costs the emergency services over £200 million a year – without mentioning the human cost.

How do you plan to reduce accidents among children?
The LV= Streetwise Safety Roadshow intends to help reduce accidents among children by making children aware of potential dangers in the everyday world around them. Showing children danger scenarios in a realistic setting enables them to easily apply safety learning in their everyday life. This will help children become aware of potential dangers, learn to make responsible choices and understand possible consequences of dangerous activity, all of which serves to reduce the chances of accidents occurring.

How many people will be on the LV= Streetwise Safety Bus tour at a time?
Up to three groups of eight children will be able to tour the bus at any one time. The tour takes about ten minutes.

Are there any restrictions on who can go on the bus (e.g. age range, parents)?
The LV= Streetwise Safety Roadshow is intended for 5-11 year olds and the content is aimed at this age group. However, parents and families are more than welcome to join the tour.

Is the bus fully accessible? (e.g. for disabled, blind, deaf children?)
We have strived to ensure that the roadshow is accessible to as many children as possible, and has installed ramps to allow for wheelchair access on and off the bus. However, due to the many visual and hearing effects and opportunities for interaction, the bus is unfortunately not equipped to translate into a format suitable for blind or deaf children other than with the support of their helpers. Blind and deaf children need specialist safety and hazard awareness training. The LV= Streetwise safety centre in Bournemouth has full disabled access and hearing loops and is available to host these groups who bring their specialist trainers along. Parents can find out more about this by visiting www.streetwise.org.uk.

How does the LV= Streetwise Safety Roadshow fit in with the existing schools curriculum for safety?
The bus dovetails perfectly into the primary schools’ PSHE (Personal Social and Health Education) and Citizenship lessons. They cover: developing confidence and responsibility and making the most of their abilities, preparing to play an active role as citizens and developing a healthy, safer lifestyle. Teachers understand that young people need a whole range of skills in order to live safe, happy, healthy, fulfilled lives – and contribute to their community.

Will the bus be visiting schools?
The LV= Streetwise Safety Roadshow will initially be touring public events to ensure we meet as many families as possible, However we hope to provide opportunities for schools to host the road show. This is a long term plan to educate more young people about safety and we are currently taking details of schools that might be interested in a visit from the bus and when we know if it is possible we will get in touch.

How many children do you expect to reach through the LV= Streetwise Safety Roadshow?
The LV= Streetwise safety bus roadshow aims to help educate up to 96,000 young people and their parents this summer.

How many accidents in total has the Bournemouth Streetwise Centre helped to prevent (or how it has improved child safety)?
Over 150,000 children have visited the LV= Streetwise centre in Bournemouth and we believe we have significantly improved child safety in the town. We hope to replicate this across the UK with our LV= Streetwise Safety Bus Roadshow.