MSA members working in partnership with Warwickshire road safety team

Geoff Little explains four of the ways in which he and other local MSA members are working professionally with Warwickshire and Coventry councils to reduce casualties.

Warwickshire County Council Road Safety Team plays a vital and proactive role in the delivery of innovative driver and pre-driver education programmes with the aim of positively influencing the attitude of drivers and enhancing their skills.

The road safety team has developed a series of programmes and activities with the objective of reducing road traffic collisions and hence casualties on the roads of Warwickshire. The programmes have been developed with the advice and support of the Police, Fire & Rescue, Department for Education, schools, and local industry. All the courses are delivered by road safety professionals - including ex-police and fire officers and driving instructors – all are able to draw upon many years of experience.

I, along with local MSA members, have had a considerable input into the programmes, with members contributing to the design and the delivery of the courses.

The road safety education programmes fall into one of four broad categories, and these are explored in more detail below.

1 - Diversionary Training Schemes conducted in partnership with the police

Speed Awareness Workshops (SAWs) are run in conjunction with Warwickshire Police, and offer speeding motorists (those just over the speed limit) the opportunity to attend the course instead of facing prosecution and points being added to their driving licences. Each course lasts approximately 3 hours.

A Driver Improvement Scheme is run in conjunction with Warwickshire Police, and offers an alternative to prosecution for drivers who may have committed a motoring offence. Courses are led by DSA ADIs, and combine classroom sessions with on road training. The aim is to improve the driving skills, attitudes and behaviour of the drivers. Each course lasts approximately one and a half days.

2 - Young pre-driver and driver programmes (Driving Ambitions ).

Driving Ambitions Schemes are run in conjunction with Warwickshire Police, schools, colleges and local industry. The courses are delivered in the majority of the secondary schools and colleges in the county, and cover years 8 to 13. The programme provides students with the opportunity to consider how to use the various transport systems and roads sensibly, and the dangers, impact and possible consequences of driving inappropriately. The scheme has now been taken up by local industry for inclusion in their apprenticeship schemes. The overall objective is to prevent these future and young drivers becoming tomorrow’s casualties.

Young driver of the year competition is a new initiative, launched in 2007. The competition is organised by Warwickshire County Council and Coventry City Council. The objective is to raise the awareness of the issues surrounding young driver casualties and to encourage youngsters to adopt a responsible attitude to their driving.

The competition has been fully sponsored/funded by Peugeot Motor Company Plc in Coventry who have committed to support an annual competition for three years. We are also working with the Institute of Advanced Motorists and ProDrive.

The competition is made up of four stages: competition entry; then the top sixty entrants are invited to attend one day of skills and assessed driving; then the top twelve are invited to attend a final selection day involving further skills including driving on a skid pan and an extended assessed drive; and the competition culminates in the final twelve being invited to a presentation evening where the winner is presented with a brand new Peugeot car.

I was very proud to support the initiative, and was responsible for undertaking the documentation and eyesight checks on the competitors, and conducting and marking of the road safety quiz.

Can you let me know if a new driver competition is available in your area? Perhaps in the future a national competition could be put in place with the support of the Government to reduce the risk of death and serious injury amongst new drivers. The benefits for new drivers taking part in this competition were not in winning the competition and being presented with a new Peugeot 1007, but in the skills they all learned on the skid pan, off road manoeuvres, on road assessment, which are invaluable in accelerating their experience as novice drivers.

3 - Company Occupational Road Risk reduction programmes

Occupational road risk is a recent addition, and encourages local businesses to examine the implications of their employees’ driving whilst at work. Courses can be tailored to suit the needs of individual organisations.

4 - Minibus driver assessment programmes for schools and voluntary organisations

Minibus training and assessment is provided by ADIs for clients holding a valid full car licence who wish to drive minibuses carrying up to 16 passengers.

The content and standard of assessment is based on the national car driving test and carried out in a minibus supplied by the individual, school or other organisation making the booking. Training and assessment can be carried out anywhere in Warwickshire.

The partnership between Warwickshire road safety and members of MSA has proven to be successful and it is planned to continue.