College students in Barnet were given a lesson in road safety yesterday to raise awareness of the number of accidents that take place across the borough every year.

Barnet has the second highest number of road casualties throughout London and one of the busiest road networks in the capital.

Teenagers at Barnet and Southgate College were given talks and demonstrations from paramedics at the London Ambulance Service, road safety lawyers and mechanics experts.

The talks formed part of national Road Safety Awareness Week, sponsored by Brake, a charity campaigning to reduce the number of accidents on Britain’s roads.

In 2011, Barnet reported 1,382 casualties – 350 of these were car occupants and 247 were pedestrians.

The road safety event at Barnet College, sponsored by Leigh Day and Co solicitors, aims to improve young people’s safety on the roads by increasing awareness.