Lifewise Centre road safety centre gets £30,000 grant

A MOCK-UP street used to educate youngsters about dangers on the roads has received a £30,000 grant to help reinforce the message.

The Lifewise Centre, a life-size model street similar to a film-set, where the aftermath of a road traffic accident can be staged, has been awarded the funding by the South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership.

A pair of state-of-the-art safety car simulators, four sets of “beer goggles” to represent the affects of drink driving and a number of mannequins used to represent pedestrians on the road will be bought with the money.

The idea behind the Lifewise Centre, at Magna Park, Rotherham, and its simulated crash scenes is to make young people aware of the importance of safe driving and give them an demonstrate the possible consequences of breaking the law.

Lifewise development manager, Louisa Bennett, said: “It’s fantastic that this grant funding has been awarded to Lifewise and I am grateful to the Safer Roads Partnership for their support.

“Over 15,000 year six pupils, along with a whole range of other people from across the county, visited Lifewise in 2009.

“The new equipment that we will be able to purchase as a result of this grant funding means that we can make visitors’ experiences at Lifewise even more realistic and help to improve their road safety awareness at the same time.”

Ian Ashmore, chairman of the South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership Tactical Group, said: “Lifewise is an excellent initiative and the realistic scenarios that are enacted provide an ideal environment to promote road safety messages designed to be passed on to the public.”