Year 8 students in Cornwall had their ideas about car safety challenged when they were visited by “Talking Point” a talk show event last week.

Presented by Cornwall Council road safety, “Talking Point” is actually part of a production by Theatre-in-Education company Performance in Education. Written for Year 8 students it aims to challenge perceptions and preconceptions around being ‘just a passenger’, investigate the dangers of distracting a driver and increase understanding of the responsibilities of being a passenger.

Tracy Porter, Road Safety Officer, says “Through using theatre in education such as this performance by Performance in Education, we are striving to reduce the number of young people who are killed or injured as car passengers.”

Tracy continues “Theatre in education is an excellent way of making young people realise the responsibility of keeping themselves and others safe. We hope that this performance will help them to remember the importance of this every time they get into a car.”

Using live drama enables the audience to relate to characters and situations that they recognise from their own lives and by understanding how and why people do what they do the performance can challenge attitudes and behaviours.