An evaluation of the Safe Drive Stay Alive road safety presentation ...

25the event itself, all thought that it would be boring and un-engaging and that theywould be lectured at but not learn anything from it.“I thought it would be one of those things where a policeman stands there and saysthings like you’d better do up your seat belt, like from Year 4.”Their limited expectations about the event reinforce the fact that the SDSApresentation was both surprising and enlightening, challenging their preconceptionsabout such events.TeachersThe teachers too claimed not to have known what to expect from the event. Manyhad not received any detailed communications, only an email stating time and placeof the event as well as a couple of posters to be hung up at school. With hindsight ofhow the event turned out, and the emotional impact upon the pupils, most teachersstated they would have benefited from more detailed information in order to be ableto better manage students‟ reaction post-event.“I thought it would be more about being safe on the road, as pedestrian, cyclist,rather than a car driver, because most of them are 2 years away from that.”“Because we didn’t really know what to expect, it was hard to make prediction inadvance what they are going to come out with.”It would appear this information was explained in sufficient depth to the main pointof contact at each school however, this information may not have filtered down toindividual teachers as effectively it could have been.3.1.8 Initial reactions (post-event)Students‟ immediate reaction was total shock. This was mixture of being deeplyupset, but also moved and stunned at the same time. A number of girls were crying,some still on the bus back, and many boys tried not to show their emotions but thesilence on the bus (compared to the noise and laughter on the journey there)displayed how deeply the event had touched them.