My self-imposed task to complete the UK and USA challenges continues…

UK Challenge 2 – Talk to your children about road safety and share a road safety message on social media

If you’ve experienced crossing a street with me you’ll know that I take road safety very seriously. Sadly my cautiousness hasn’t rubbed off on one of my friends, who has been hit by a car on four occasions (fortunately not seriously).

I know the Green Cross Code is a thing…but if I’m honest, I couldn’t tell you what it was. I posed the same question to my housemates…“Stop. Look. Listen.” they cried, putting me to shame.

Growing up I remember TV road safety promotional films with a man in a questionable green outfit, and one with some hedgehogs. Today’s TV (and YouTube) films are more graphic, depicting snapping bones, perforated lungs and craniums hitting asphalt.

Although it’s not specifically road safety and it’s from down under, the Dumb Ways To Die campaign was a viral hit, having been watched by over 110 million people. It’s actually impossible not to sing the jingle after watching the clip.

This got me to wondering, is there any evidence that ‘shock tactics’ work any better than cute animated cartoons?

USA Challenge 2 – identify who is in charge of emergency preparedness where you live, reach out to them and let them know you’re playing 30Days30Ways.

Ok, this is a super easy task – it’s me! You can find out more about me or connect with London Resilience Team for more information about emergency preparedness in London. In fulfilment of the challenge, I’ll also share a link to a useful twitter list of official emergency planning accounts in the UK.

Last year I made an estimate that there are 8,500 emergency planners across the UK. Despite restructures and budget cuts, I think I’m still comfortable that this figure is ‘about right’, meaning that on average there is one ten-thousandth of an emergency planner per person.

I’m sure there are some massive errors in my calculations (let me know how I could improve my estimate!). However, what this also highlights is another reason that we should all take responsibility for preparing for emergencies. Something my SMEM colleague Mary Jo Flynn put very succinctly earlier:

Preparedness, response and recovery is a shared responsibility #EveryonesJob #30Days30ways

A photo posted by @mjflynn001 on Sep 2, 2015 at 11:17am PDT