Kent County Council launched Road Sense Year 7 session in 2022, which is designed to empower the learner to understand how their behaviours impact on their journey and how young people can reduce the risk of injury with simple strategies. The Year 9 product was introduced at the beginning of 2024. Both interventions are led by a Kent County Council Road Safety Officer, supported with peer aged facilitators within a short film.

Road Sense – Distractions; This session discusses why crashes occur, when they happen, who is most likely to be involved, statistics, the impact of distractions and peer pressure, and aims to increase knowledge for a safer journey in this significant year. For most young people, this is when they are encouraged to be independent with their travel. We share strategies and skills to lower risks completing a journey.

Building upon the early success, Emma has created a second progressive step for Year 9, adding to KCC’s lifelong learning approach.

Road Sense - Good Decisions; This session progresses with the brain development of a teenager. Discussing risk-taking and why this year group are taking more risk as their brains develop. The session revisits distractions and introduces hazard perception and phones, and examines the power of friendships. With legislation impacting this age group, seatbelt use is positively promoted. The session also sets out to deepen and challenge their road safety knowledge, providing guidance with supportive strategies.

Emma will outline the content of Road Sense, how this has been launched into the competitive school curriculum timetable and provide an overview of evaluation and feedback so far.

Emma Tracy, Road Safety Officer, Kent County Council

Emma Tracy is a Road Safety Officer for the Safety Road Users Behavioural Change Team within Kent County Council, leading the 12- to 24-year-old portfolio delivering education, training and campaigns to this demographic.

Emma is a qualified teacher, who previously led the Design Technology & Engineering curriculum within secondary education.

Emma oversees KCC’s Young Driver & Passenger intervention, which received the prestigious the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award in December 2024 for outstanding achievement and innovation and was tasked with creating the Year 7 & 9 road safety interventions.