DRAMA students from Hilbre High School have worked with Wirral Advanced Motorists to produce a DVD aimed at promoting better driving to reduce the number of deaths in young people.
‘Driven Away’ will be used in schools and colleges, libraries and road safety units throughout the area.
The film, which was written, produced, directed and performed by the students, shows four scenarios when young people put themselves at risk, including driving under the influence of drugs, text messaging while driving, driving unfamiliar cars in hazardous conditions and racing.
It also features an interview with Constable Dave Parker, a traffic patrol and family liaison officer for Merseyside Police.
He said: “A lot of road collisions I attend involve younger drivers aged 17-25 and the cause is often excess speed.
“It’s also down to the basic standard of the driving test. Once someone has passed, they are legal to drive on any road, yet they have no experience of driving in difficult conditions, including in the dark, in the rain and on motorways and other national speed limit roads.”
On average, eight young drivers aged 17-25 are killed or seriously injured every day on our roads, and on Wirral, where there are a high number of national speed limit roads, the figures have increased dramatically since 2003.
Jan Peters, committee member of Wirral Advanced Motorists, which provides guidance for anyone with a full driving licence to take their Advanced Driving Test, said: “The film has purposefully been put together by people from the age group this project is targeting, which has made the end result impactful, hard hitting but also enjoyable to watch.
“If it makes just one person sit back and think then we have done our job.”
The project received funding from The National Lottery’s ‘Awards for All’ scheme and was supported by Learning Lighthouse City Learning Centre, specialists in digital imaging and multimedia.
The film was premiered at Epic Leisure Centre in Ellesmere Port last Wednesday.
Wirral Advanced Motorists is affiliated to the Institute of Advanced Motorists and is a self-funding registered charity.
For more information on its work and on the DVD visit http://www.wirraliam.co.uk
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