Prime Minister Andy Burnham joked that he was a bad driver after getting a quiz for primary-age children about braking distance wrong during a visit to Siemens Rail Technology Centre in Chippenham on Friday.
Mr Burnham joined year five and six pupils from the town for a lesson hosted by TV presenter Maddie Moate, who asked the Prime Minister and the children a series of questions about the braking distance of moving vehicles.
Making light of his incorrect answers, Mr Burnham joked: “That shows why I’m a bad driver, doesn’t it.”
Quiz questions and answers
Ms Moate asked: “I’ve got a quiz question for everyone. What do you think the stopping distance of a car travelling at 30mph is – so this is a car kind of travelling at the speed it would normally go along maybe a high street, and it needs to stop.
“How far, how many metres, do you think it will take to stop that car travelling at 30mph?”
Mr Burnham responded: “I’m thinking 20,” while the children guessed one metre and six metres. “The answer is 14 metres,” Ms Moate said.
“There’s no wrong answers here, we’re getting involved, this is science, we’ve got to be curious, right?”
Visit purpose and activities
The Prime Minister visited the manufacturing company in Wiltshire to highlight his plans to create more work experience opportunities for young people and tackle barriers to employment.
During the visit, he built a circuit board alongside apprentices and took part in the Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) lesson livestreamed to classrooms across the country. He was put to the test by Ms Moate alongside pupils from Monkton Park Primary School in Chippenham.
Asked about the distance it would take a car travelling at 60mph to stop, the Prime Minister guessed 30 metres, while the children guessed 28 and six. “The answer is 55 metres,” Ms Moate told the class.
Highway Code figures
According to the Highway Code, the stopping distance of a car travelling at 30mph is 23 metres – made up of nine metres of thinking distance and 14 metres of braking distance.
The stopping distance of a car travelling at 60mph is 73 metres – made up of 18 metres of thinking distance and 55 metres of braking distance.
