“This is no urban legend”. With these words, the students from IES Virgen del Puerto tried to sum up all the terrifying things they see on the road each day, all the risky behaviors that result in accidents and death. These aren’t just scary stories – they happen!
The ideas
The students began by making an analysis of all the local traffic accidents that had taken place involving youth. These accidents are sometimes transformed into urban legends over time, losing connection with the reality of what happened and losing their emotional impact on us.
In their discussions, the students focused on the need to pay attention while driving, and that nobody is immune from car accidents. What has happened to others before can happen to any of us today.
Depending on each person’s driving behavior, there is a greater or lesser possibility of being the cause or the victim of an accident. The students wanted to relate the driving behavior of their friends and acquaintances with real traffic accidents and their consequences. They wanted to make clear what driving implies for every one of us – from drivers to passengers to those at home or in class.
The initiatives
The students decided they’d create a short film to try and capture the problems they’d identified in their discussions. To do it, they would base it on a normal night out where the young characters made some bad decisions. Then they’d show how easily people like us can become urban legends – in this case, the famous “girl on the curve” – not because we become ghosts who forever haunt the highway, but because of the countless young people that have lost their lives due to the risky driving behaviour of themselves or others.
The aim was to raise awareness among schools and to make an impact by talking about everyday things. The consequences of the driving behavior portrayed in the film and common to so many people aren’t urban legends, they’re true stories.
The video will be used in all kinds of activities related to the road safety education programme that is being developed by the team at IES Virgen del Puerto. The fact that it was made by students from the school makes the video more powerful than any other video created by unknown people.
The overall reaction of the audience has made one thing clear – the video makes a lasting impact!
