Keeping Our Students Safe
“Look both ways before you cross the street. Use the crosswalk….” Teaching life-long safety lessons to our kids is one of the most important things they learn in school. The Brain Injury Alliance of New Jersey is committed to helping teachers of all grade levels, by providing resources and information you can use in the classroom — from teaching young kids about school bus safety to preparing teens to drive. On this site you’ll find:
Join Us On The Road
The Brain Injury Alliance of New Jersey hosts traveling workshops for teachers, such as Introduction to Brain Injury, Concussion in the Classroom and Helping Students with Brain Injury. We also provide a wide variety of presentations on topics such as pedestrain safety, bike and helmet safety, teen driving safety and concussion awareness.
LEARN MORE
Help Your Students Become A Champion School – Create A Safe Driving Campaign!
The Champion Schools program is an opportunity for New Jersey high school students and staff to develop campaigns to promote teen driving safety. Each year we look for creative projects that will raise awareness and make an impact on new drivers. Students can use social media, videos, blogs, traditional media or other means to help spread their message.
GET YOUR SCHOOL INVOLVED
Tips & Tools by Topic
As a teacher you have a huge impact on your student’s safety. We’ve collected information to help make your job a little easier. Select a topic below to view related lesson plans, teaching materials and videos that you can use to help your students be safe.
Have a lesson plan you’d like to share? Send It To Us »
Looking for a fun interactive way to engage your students? Check out our Champion Schools Program »
LESSON PLANS
- Child Pedestrian Safety Curriculum (Grades K-5)
Teaches and encourages pedestrian safety for students grades K-5. It is organized into five lessons: walking near traffic, crossing streets, crossing intersections, parking lot safety, and school bus safety.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) - Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety (Grades K-8)
A selection of lessons and teaching tools for youth-focused bicycle and pedestrian safety based on curriculum currently in use throughout the United States.
Source: Safe Routes New Jersey
RELATED VIDEOS
- Don’t Walk Distracted – Bound Brook High School Champion School (2019) 0.59 sec.
- Pedestrian Safer Journey (2015) 5 min
- Coloring Pages/Activities
Road & Street Safety Coloring Pages -Download and print - Walk This Way: Pedestrian Safety for Young Children (2015) 3.5 min
LESSON PLANS
- 70 Rules of Defensive Driving: Expert Robert Schaller shares wisdom from teaching defensive driving. Each tip can be used to spark discussion in classroom.
Source: Roadtrip America - Auto Insurance (Grades 10-12)
Provide students with a basic understanding of what an auto policy covers and general knowledge of the importance of having auto insurance.
Source: Horace Mann - Factors that Impact Driving: Students explore factors that impact driving and driver safety, including speed, environmental conditions, and driver behaviors.
Source: Teen365 - Promoting Safe Driving/Choices on Prom Night: Students explore ways to promote safe driving on prom night. In this driver education lesson, students interview people about driving on prom night. Students design a poster with their researched quotes and discuss the topic in the hallways as a promotion event for safe driving on prom night.
Source: Lesson Planet - Share the Keys: A 60-90 minute interactive orientation for parents and teens designed to reduce teen driver crash risks by increasing parental involvement.
Source: njm.com/share-the-keys - Survival Defensive Driving (9-12): Students build understanding around why defensive driving is an important skill. They’ll discuss strategies for improving driving safety.
Source: njm.com/share-the-keys
- Teen Driving: Skills, Responsibilities and Reactions: An introduction to the skills required for and responsibilities of driving, pre-teens and teens engage in a series of activities, chart their response times, and analyze how variables effect these reaction times.
Source: CDC
MATERIALS
- Don’t Drive Stupid
New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety innovative program to educate young drivers about staying safe behind the wheel. Free resources for educators.
DIGITAL INTERACTIVES
- The Science Behind Safe Driving
Learn how the fundamental principles of physics apply to driving in this digital interactive. Students will learn why understanding the Laws of Motion is an essential part of practicing safe driving habits.
Interactive Let’s Begin!
Educator Companion Guide
Source: Teen365 - Test Your Knowledge on Safe Driving
Be prepared for teen driver education! Are you prepared to teach your students about avoiding distractions? Quiz yourself on the facts of safe driving.
Source: Teen365
RELATED VIDEOS
- 10 Road Safety Tips for New Drivers (2015) 6 min.
- 10 Tips for New Drivers (2013) 5 min.
- AAA Teen Driver Safety Tips (2015) 2 min.
- I Know Everything About Safe Driving (2012) 1.5 min.
- Impact of a 40 MPH crash – Center for Road Safety (2016) 0.36 sec.
- The Mourning After – John P. Stevens High School Champion School (2016) 2.05 min.
- Teens Behind the Wheel (2014) 56 min. documentary
- Teens Learn Importance of Seatbelts with Simulator (2015) 1.5 min.
- Understanding Car Crashes: It’s Basic Physics (2015) 22 min.
Looking for more? Check out the TeenDrive365 website for educators that offers activities, quizzes and a free tool kit.
LESSON PLANS
- Car & Bus Safety (Grades K-2)
Activities will help teach your students all about car and bus safety.
Source: KidsHealth in the Classroom - Riding the School Bus (Preschool)
Teach your class about important safety rules while riding the bus with these great activities and books.
Source: Bright Hub Education
RELATED VIDEOS
- School Bus Safety (2016) 5 min
- School Bus Safety Tips from Princeton Police Dept. (2015) 2 min
LESSON PLANS
- Bicyle Safer Journey (K-12)
Helps educators talk about the skills for safe bicycling for ages 5 to 18. There are three videos ̶ one for each of three age groups (age 5-9, 10-14 and 15-18). Videos are accompanied by a quiz or discussion and an educator’s resource library can be used as an introduction to bicycle safety skills or to augment existing curriculum.
Source: Federal Highway Administration - Bike Safety (Grades 6-8)
These activities will help your students learn about bike safety and how to stay injury-free while riding bikes.
Source: KidsHealth in the Classroom - Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety (Grades K-8)
A selection of lessons and teaching tools for youth-focused bicycle and pedestrian safety based on curriculum currently in use throughout the United States.
Source: Safe Routes New Jersey - Riding on the Road and through Intersections (Grades 7-8)
Discusses traffic laws, bike lanes and how to ride through intersections
Source: Safe Routes New Jersey - Why Should I Wear a Helmet? (Grades 5-8)
Includes a series of activities and questions for kids to help them experience what it’s like to live with brain injury. Cyclists will understand how a helmet protects fragile skulls.
Source: Safe Routes New Jersey
RELATED VIDEOS
- Always Wear A Helmet (2014) 2 min. – animated for young children
- Bicycle Safety for Children – After School with KJ (2015) 4 min.
- HELMETS – Happy Family Show | The FuZees Eps 13 (2015) 8 min
- Protect Your Egg – Riverside High School Champion School (2019) 0.44 sec.
LESSON PLANS
- Safe Driving – Dealing with Distractions Lesson Plan (2018)
Students will be able to identify key factors associated with teenage traffic collisions, and gain a better understanding of consequences associated with inexperienced and distracted driving. Students will also be able to identify the rules and allowances of their State Graduated Driver’s License Policy.
Source: TeenDrive365
RELATED VIDEOS
- GDL Information from Allstate (2008) 1 min.
- Kyleigh’s Law (2008) 7 min.
LESSON PLANS
- Safe Driving – Dealing with Distractions Lesson Plan
Students will be able to identify key factors associated with teenage traffic collisions, and gain a better understanding of consequences associated with inexperienced and distracted driving. Students will also be able to identify the rules and allowances of their State Graduated Driver’s License Policy.
Source: TeenDrive365 - Teen Knowledge Activity (9-12)
In this activity, students create an interactive glossary of important terms and concepts related to the idea of distracted driving. Students use their interactive glossary to create an informative pamphlet, then distribute their pamphlets to peers.
Source: TeenDrive365
DIGITAL INTERACTIVES
- Heads Up Driving Challenge
Can you keep your cool behind the wheel when distractions are everywhere? In this interactive you will experience a variety of distracted driving dilemmas, including cell phones, food and even your friends.
Source: TeenDrive365
RELATED VIDEOS
- Arrive Alive Don’t “Blank” and Drive – Hampton Academy Champion School (2019) 1.06 min.
- CADENCE One decision. A multitude of consequences. AA (2016) 11 min.
- Carpool Karaoke #itcanwait – AT&T (2016) 0.58 sec.min.
- Distracted Driving (2013) 2.5 min.
- Drive Safely – Haddonfield Memorial High School Champion School (2016) 3.51 min.
- New Dangers of Distracted Driving (2015) 1 min.
- One Decision – Project Yellow Light (2019) 1.07 min.
- Stick to Safety – Project Yellow Light (2019) 0.37 min.
- Sarah’s Story – Ohio Public Safety (2016) 4 min.
- Teens and Trucks Share the Road, Distracted Driving (2014) 18 min.
- Teens caught on Tape: ABC Nightly News (2015) 6 min.
- The Distracted Mind (2013) 1.5 min.
- The Unseen on the Road #itcanwait – AT&T (2016) 3.37 min.
LESSON PLANS
- Drinking & Driving: Students select resources related to issues of drinking and driving. They explain and discuss the dangers of mixing drinking and driving using notes from Internet investigations and write an essay.
Source: Lesson Planet - Drowsy Driving: The Causes and Effects of Drowsiness
Students will assess how drowsiness affects them and determine steps that they, or someone who is driving, can take to help reduce it.
Source: Scholastic - Let’s Sleep on It: Students share opinions about facts related to sleep and analyze their own experiences and observations.
Source: The New York Times Learning Network
RELATED VIDEOS
LESSON PLANS
- Driver Education Safety – Sharing the Road with Trains, Buses & Light Rail: An innovative Driver Education Safety Program that includes a PowerPoint presentation explaining signs, signals and concepts of rail, light rail and bus safety and graphic consequences of motorist error. Source: NJ Transit
- With Bicyclists: A lesson plan for Sharing the Road with Bicycles for driver education classes. Source: New Jersey Bike and Walk Coalition
HANDOUTS/MATERIALS
- With Motorcyclists: The For Car Drivers website provides safety tips, video instruction and other resources for car drivers on sharing the road with motorcyclists.
Source: Motorcycle Safety Foundation
RELATED VIDEOS
LESSON PLANS
- Driving and The Impact on Teen Drivers
Source: Impact Teen Drivers
Basic overview of seven unique lesson plans for defensive driving. Lesson plans include: persuasive essays, physics, law enforcement, role play scenarios and history of safety features in vehicles - Help Prevent Speeding, Help Save Lives: A Math Lesson
Students will discuss the causes and effects of speeding and solve word problems about stopping distance before developing a script for a public service announcement.
Source: Scholastic
RELATED VIDEOS
- 25 Saves Lives – Burlington County High School Champion School (2019) 1.04 min
- Dr. Christian Conte: How to Deal with Road Rage (2016) 12.15 min.
- Mellow Yellow – Columbia High School Champion School (2019) 1.26 min.
- Slow Down and Move Over (2016) 2.02 min.
HANDOUTS/MATERIALS
- Are You an Aggressive Driver? Quiz
Source: Highway Traffic Safety School - Driving Advice: Aggressive Driving
Source: AAA - Road Rage: How to Avoid Aggressive Driving
Source: AAA
GAMESHOW POWERPOINT TEMPLATES
ACTIVITIES
Lend Us Your Lesson Plan
Do you have a lesson on a safety topic for pedestrians, bicyclists or teen drivers that you’d like to share with other educators? From single topic worksheets and activities to videos and full lesson plans, we will post them here for other teachers.
SEND US YOUR LESSONTeen Driving Blogs & Games
Looking for some other ideas to spark a discussion in the classroom? Here are some teen driving blogs and web-based simulation games:
| Blogs | Web-Based Driver Simulation Games |
|---|---|
|
Road-Tested Resources
The following is a list of trusted resources that offer up-to-date information on safety topics:
- Find your local NJ Safe Routes to School Coordinator – video (2017) 2.5 min
- NJ Bicycle and Pedestrian Resource Center – Online Image & Data Library
- NJ Division of Highway Traffic Safety
- Safe Kids New Jersey
- YOURS: Youth for Road Safety
- Youth and Road Safety Action Kit – A simple guide developed by youth to inspire young people to get actively involved in road safety.
Downloadable Action Kit
