The national scheme to re-educate offending drivers was recently presented with a prestigious award for road safety by royalty.
The National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (NDORS), which provides a range of educational courses for motorists, including the national speed awareness course, received the Premier Award in the Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards 2012.
The scheme, which is developed with the help of leading driver academics, was given the award for the most outstanding contribution to road safety and was presented during a ceremony by HRH Prince Michael of Kent in the Savoy Hotel in London on Tuesday (11.11.12)
NDORS courses, supported by the Association of Chief Police Officers, are offered by the majority of UK police forces and mean drivers who commit a low level offence can be re-educated on road safety instead of facing prosecution.
Since 2010, more than two million motorists have attended NDORS courses, which are designed to target different types of motoring offenders.
ACPO lead for roads policing, Deputy Chief Constable Suzette Davenport, said:
It is an honour to win such a prestigious award against such fierce competition.
It is a testimony to everybody who has contributed to the scheme over the years.
We are incredibly proud of the NDORS scheme and the important role it plays in casualty reduction, and we are delighted that it has been recognised in such a significant way.
Research carried out for NDORS has shown driver re-education is highly effective in improving long-term behaviour on the roads. When compared to fines and licence penalty points, education has a more lasting impact on motorists’ attitudes to driving safely.
The NDORS scheme also includes the National Driver Alertness Course; RIDE for motorcyclists; the National Seatbelt Course; and two newly created courses, What’s Driving Us and Driving 4 Change.
Announcing the Premier Award winner, Prince Michael said:
I fully appreciate police resources are currently very restricted so we all welcome new technology as a way of countering this. We also know that without sound education we will make little progress. Where we are able to combine these two we are onto a winner.
It is for this reason that I’m pleased to announce my Premier Award winner as the National Driver Offender Re-Training Scheme.
Strategic manager for NDORS, Jerry Moore, said:
Drivers are often sceptical and think the courses will lecture them about road safety but in fact they find them enjoyable, interactive and very informative.
Police forces across the country receive letters from drivers telling them the course has changed their attitude and behaviour on the road. This can only be of great benefit to our aim of reducing road casualties.
Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire, Julia Mulligan:
These courses are so impactful on those who undertake them and I have heard many positive stories about how the course alters a person’s driving afterwards. This award given by HRH Prince Michael of Kent is absolutely deserved and is a further testament of the valuable and essential resource that these courses have become. My congratulations goes to the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme.
Of course, this is part of a package for the communities of North Yorkshire and the City of York wholly designed to save lives on our roads.
We are fully committed to bringing down road deaths and casualties as well as keeping people from harm in the area. Our effective safety camera van scheme has been proven to reduce collisions by almost 60% in circumstances where speed is a known factor, the speed awareness courses are highly successful in changing driver behaviour and we are able to sustain the 95 Alive Partnership through additional revenue raised from the courses.
Inspector Dave Brown of North Yorkshire Police’s Strategic Roads Policing Group, said:
This is excellent news and while we know that these courses contribute to road safety, this prestigious recognition highlights and strengthens the message that they are an important element of educating drivers, improving their behaviour and therefore making our roads safer, one of the police’s top priorities.
