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Transport for London: Young Road Users (YRU)

YRU - Young Road Users
Website | Series of online educational modules | Teacher's notes | Student worksheets

Funded by Transport for London, Young Road Users (YRU) is a programme to aid young adults (16-19), who may be considering learning to drive, in being aware of facts around driving, how to stay safe, and what other travel options are available for them in London. The programme features 5 interactive online educational modules with accompanying worksheets and notes, housed in an informational website.



Created at Zinc Communicate with Paul Brown, with photography by Mark Turnbull

The Brief:
To deliver a programme of road safety resources to engage and inform young road users on how to stay safe while driving, and highlight other travel options (and discounted fares) available to them in London.
Previous programmes, which focussed on horror stories about severe road accidents, had been seen to be unsuccessful in affecting long-term change in the behaviour of young road users. It was now advised that peer to peer discussion and influence was better at affecting change.

The Solution:
Working with the PSHE association, our solution was to develop a story around three characters, following them in a situation involving driving, to facilitate classroom debate and engage students to question their own thoughts and behaviours. We commissioned three actors to voice a script which is delivered in sections over a series of modules, accompanied by prompts for debate and questions about the facts around driving. I developed a bright colour palette and bold visual styling, aimed at engaging the audience in a style that feels relevant and familiar.

Paul and I were in agreement that humour can often help deliver a message a little better, relaxing an audience rather than having them feel dictated to, especially in the context of a lesson. I worked with the photographer and actors to capture exaggerated reactions from the characters to inject some humour, aiming to get the students talking amongst themselves and developing their own views around behaviour, alongside the guidance of the programme, rather than a list of dos and don'ts. 

Worksheets and notes form part of the PSHE programme, for use in the classroom. The bright identity is carried throughout, although the information is clearly structured through use of type so that the worksheets may be printed in grayscale only (should schools need to reduce printing costs) and still communicate the information in a clear and bold way. 

Take a look at:
Transport for London: Young Road Users (YRU)
Published:

Transport for London: Young Road Users (YRU)

Published: