A major road safety initiative targeting teenagers in the Harrogate district is being launched this month after figures revealed 68 young people were killed or seriously injured on North Yorkshire’s roads between January and September last year.
Harrogate District Community Safety Partnership’s road safety initiative, Learn and Live, is a hard-hitting campaign aimed at Year 12 students.
Emergency professionals will use film footage and startling statistics to deliver a short, sharp and shocking road safety message aimed at saving young lives.
Between January and September 2010, 68 young people have been killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents in North Yorkshire, 23 of those in the Harrogate district.
The emergency services put the figures down to a combination of youth, inexperience and driving inappropriately for the road conditions.
Lee Smith, Chair of the Community Safety Partnership’s Road Safety Group, says he is pleased at the interest being shown by local schools.
“We will be delivering the first Learn and Live at King James’s School, Knaresborough on January 26,” he said.
“We aim to use this presentation as a tool in the fight to reduce collisions on our roads. We are grateful to 95 Alive who have provided the funding to help us deliver it.
“Representatives from the police, fire, ambulance service, and road safety officers will be using their first hand experience of some terrible accidents and will be creating a lasting image with their young audiences. Footage from a bereaved parent will also be shown.”
The Learn and Live brand has been purchased from Cleveland Fire Brigade who have delivered the presentation to over 40,000 people in the region and along with other Road Safety Partners have seen the number of deaths on Cleveland’s roads decrease from 30 to 13 in the last 5 years.
Good luck on joining the crusade to educate our drivers