'The Domino Effect' - one collision affects many people’s lives… drive safely’. That’s the message being given to youngsters at Bassaleg Comprehensive School on Friday as part of a campaign to urge them to drive safely.

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service’s ‘Domino Effect’ roadshow will be setting up at the school on Friday and Fire Officers will be presenting along with colleagues from Gwent Police. The message aims to make people think about the effect a road traffic collision could have on their families and friends.

The campaign images show the faces of people affected by a road traffic collision on a set dominos. These range from the emergency crews at the scene of an incident to a grieving relative. They are shown in the following order: a firefighter who may cut out a casualty from a mangled vehicle, a paramedic who will try to save their life, the police officer who will have to inform the next of kin of a fatality, the grieving relative and then a bunch of flowers tied to a lamppost to mark an anniversary of yet another road-side death.

This Friday, ‘The Domino Effect’ message will be highlighted at an all day event in Bassaleg Comprehensive school by fire and police officers. The event will include presentations to students in classrooms, the ‘Crashed Car Roadshow’ which has been funded by ten unitary authorities and consists of a car which has been adapted to look like it has been in a crash, with crash test dummies inside to show the effect on passengers.

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service’s Road Traffic Collision Reduction Officer Dave Ansell said, “The aim of this theme is to make people think about why they should drive safely. Firefighters are often first or second to the scene of an incident and are some of the first people affected. However, the knock-on effect of a road traffic collision goes much further than emergency crews. The families and friends of those involved can be left behind to deal with the loss of a loved one and the question of whether it could have been avoided with safer, more responsible driving.”

PC Mark Ruddick, of Gwent Police, added:

It was recognised that to pass on the message of safety concerning speed, it was necessary to speak to those people who are new to driving, and where better to do this that at our schools?

Thanks to or close links with Bassaleg Comprehensive school, this is an ideal place to start. We hope the exercise will be rolled out to all our schools in the Newport area in the future”.

The presentation to young people includes hard hitting TV advertisements used in other countries to highlight dangers such as drink driving, not wearing seat belts and speeding.