More than 120 young teenagers at a Manchester school got the chance to drive a car today as part of a national awareness campaign that puts the spotlight on how UK youngsters are taught to drive.
Year 9 pupils, aged 13 and 14, at the East Manchester Academy were chosen to take part in the Goodyear Young Driver Education Week, which runs until October 20. It aims to encourage earlier driver education to help reduce young driver accidents.
The awareness week is also being backed by Paralympic gold medallist Josie Pearson MBE, who won gold in the discus in the 2012 Paralympic Games. Josie was paralysed in a young driver car accident when she was just 17.
Figures released by the Department of Transport in their annual report on road casualties in Great Britain revealed that 133 young drivers aged between 17 and 24 years died in 2012, while a fifth of people killed or seriously injured in that year were in a collision with a young driver.
Josie said: “Something needs to change to try to save lives on our roads and bringing young driver education into schools could be the way forward. Surely if we start teaching youngsters from the age of 11 about safe and responsible driving they will be better motorists in the future?”
Last year, Goodyear launched its pioneering Driving Academy to educate children, aged under 17, about the importance of safe driving. The scheme aims to bring the Highway Code into the classroom as well as getting pupils as young as 11 behind the wheel of a car.
John Hayes, assistant head teacher at the East Manchester Academy, in Beswick, said: “We were delighted to take part in the Young Driver Education Week. We put 120 pupils through the Driving Academy and they have all taken something away from this event, which hopefully means they will be safer drivers in the future.”
Michelle Fisher, Goodyear brand manager, said: “We have some of the safest roads in Britain and yet our young drivers are still being killed in huge numbers.
“Our Driving Academy not only puts the spotlight on early driver education but was also created after we listened to what teenagers wanted – and the message was loud and clear. They no longer want to be burdened by the reputation of being unruly drivers and they want to know more before they get behind the wheel at 17.
“The initiatives we have introduced, which has already visited dozens of schools nationwide will hopefully achieve just that, but more importantly make newly-qualified young drivers better prepared to drive safely and responsibly having passed their test.”