Schoolchildren across Oxfordshire are being asked to think before they set out on the county’s roads after being given a dramatic road safety message.

The Cherwell School in Marston Ferry Road, Oxford, is among 16 schools in the county being targeted by Oxfordshire County Council.

The Decision, performed by the Tiny Giants company, was shown to Year Eight pupils at the school on Monday as part of the council’s campaign to get children to take more care while they are out walking.

Pupil Daniel Scott-Jackson, 13, said: “It was a real eye-opener.

“It has definitely made us think twice about our own personal safety. It has made us much more aware of the dangers around us.”

Friends Emily Stansfield, 12, Georgia Moloney, 12, and Daisy Ferguson, 13, also watched the drama.

Daisy said: “When we are with our friends we don’t usually pay much attention to the road, but the play has opened our eyes about how dangerous the road can be.”

Every year, the county’s road safety team commissions a play aimed at highlighting the dangers to young pedestrians.

The Decision is a courtroom drama, asking pupils to act as jury and decide the fate of a fictional defendant based on evidence they hear relating to a road incident in which a child died.

This week the council released figures of the number of ten- to 14- year-olds injured as pedestrians in 2009.

Three children in the age group were seriously injured and ten were slightly injured.

In the previous four years, about 30 children each year were injured in car accidents while walking, including two fatal accidents, in 2005 and in 2007.

The county council studies statistics for this age group because there is often a surge in injuries to young pedestrians when they reach that age as it is when many of them venture out by themselves.

Julie Jones, of the council’s road safety team, said: “It can sometimes be difficult to engage with teenagers about road safety using traditional classroom-based methods, but the use of drama can be really effective in leaving a lasting impression on young people.

“We’re hoping that every student who sees the play takes something positive away with them. The majority of young pedestrians are injured as a result of them just not taking enough care of themselves.”

She said the drop in accidents was “a bit of a mystery” and difficult to attribute it to any one thing.

She added: “It is probably a variety of things but it might be this is just a good year, which is why we look over five years rather than year by year.”