When Neil Hewitson was studying the equations of motion at school, he failed to see how they would ever be of use to him in the real world.

But after spending the bulk of his 30-year career in the police as a road crash investigator, he has ended up using that science regularly in order to reconstruct crashes from the evidence left at the scene.

Now Inspector Hewitson is helping to deliver a project at Lockerbie Academy in Dumfries and Galloway, which uses road crash investigation to teach pupils about key concepts in physics, such as speed, distance, displacement, forces and acceleration.

The project, devised by physics teacher Jennie Hargreaves, shows pupils the relevance of what they are learning in physics, while also delivering important lessons in road safety.

This summer, the initiative scooped the top prize at a Europe-wide competition: the Excellence in Road Safety Awards. It has also been highlighted as an example of good practice by the government’s Making Maths Count group. The group has set itself the goal of promoting the value of maths as an essential life skill.

Lockerbie Academy is situated in a rural area and there are not huge volumes of traffic, explains Ms Hargreaves. But pupils learn to drive on farms before they hit double digits, get their tractor licence at 16 and think they have nothing to learn by the time they pass their driving test at 17. However, the reality is that cars are killing machines, she says.

Teaching physics by getting pupils to take on the role of road crash investigators gets that message across while demonstrating that the science is relevant in the real world.

Up to speed

“I’ve taken the usual topics for physics, like speed, distance, displacement, forces and acceleration, and made this into a road safety topic,” Ms Hargreaves says. “Kids can get more ownership over what they are learning because they see a context for it - they can see its relevance. If it’s abstract, kids can’t see the point in learning it.”

The project demonstrates why physics and maths are worthwhile subjects to study, agrees Inspector Hewitson: “The role of a crash investigator is to reconstruct the crash as much as they can from the marks and other physical evidence left at the scene.

“In order to carry out an effective reconstruction, the crash investigator must have an in-depth knowledge of a number of equations of motion together with the laws of physics and how these can be used to calculate vehicle speeds and behaviour.”

Driving home the message

Ms Hargreaves has used the road safety topic to teach physics from S2 to S6 but believes it works best for pupils in S3. “We cover different levels of speed and how they relate to causes of car incidents,” she says. The course culminates in a road crash scenario.”

The crash is set up in the school’s gym hall using models, and is based on a real incident in which a pedestrian was hit by a car. The driver ran away after the crash, but using the evidence at the scene and witness statements, pupils have to work out whether he was actually to blame.

They measure, observe and calculate their way to an answer, and when they finally get there the sense of satisfaction is “delightful to observe”, Ms Hargreaves says.

“One of the lessons I hope the students learn during the process is not to give up,” she adds. “The pleasure students get from finally arriving at the answer is amazing. I describe physics and maths as like attempting to climb Mount Everest compared with some subjects that are like a walk in the park.”

After the school’s triumph at the Excellence in Road Safety Awards, Violeta Bulc, European commissioner for transport, said: “Grass-roots initiatives like these are crucial in our efforts to reach our strategic goal to halve road fatalities by 2020.”

@Emma_Seith