Cornwall county council Road Safety Unit will be presenting a brand new programme called Distractions' at Truro School on April 19 and 26.

The day is aimed at Year 7 and 8 students and will involve around 250 pupils in total over the two days. The programme is designed to encourage young adults to appreciate the dangers that modern distractions, such as mobile phones and MP3 players, can represent when dealing with today's busy roads.

Distractions is a new project for Road Safety; it was devised as a one off activity for Humphry Davy School. The activity was so successful that it will be gradually rolled out to schools in Cornwall with high casualty numbers for 10-14 year old pedestrians, to try and raise awareness and reduce casualties.

Tracy Porter, road safety officer, said: "Child pedestrians in the 10 to 14 year age group are highly susceptible to road traffic collisions. As part of the Cornwall County Council Casualty Reduction Strategy and in line with Every Child Matters staying safe' outcome, the Road Safety Unit have put together a practical programme aimed at this age group, looking at the effects that distractions such as mobile phones have upon them as pedestrians. It is hoped that by raising participant's awareness, we can get them to stop and think before using mobile phones and MP3 players when they are crossing the road."

Distractions uses role play and full pupil interaction and engagement to really bring home the message of the dangers surrounding not giving the road your full attention. The day starts with an interactive quiz about road safety, where the groups existing knowledge and attitudes are discussed.

Obstacle courses will then be set up in a safe environment; pupils will be given a number of lives each, they will have to complete the obstacle course while doing everyday things that may take some of their concentration away from the task in hand, such as typing a text message on their mobile phone. For every wrong turn they take or obstacle they hit a life will be lost.

At the end of the practical session the amount of lives they loose while completing the course will be translated into what injuries they could have sustained if they had been distracted in the same way while out on the road.

The quiz is repeated at the end of the day, this allows instant evaluation displaying whether following the session, the pupils really appreciate how quickly an inappropriate action or decision when out on the road, can change your life forever.