As part of County Durham & Darlington Fire & Rescues’ commitment to Road Safety, crews at Newton Aycliffe Fire Station are working with Jenny Walton from One Point Newton Aycliffe Youth Development Team to deliver a new and exciting programme aimed at the reduction of road traffic incidents within the Community.

Station Manager Robin Turnbull “In the North East only 9% of young drivers (17-25) hold a valid driving licence yet 50% of the road deaths and injuries occur in this age group. Traditionally young males in this age group are the most at risk group”.

Young people under the age of 25 account for 50% of the road deaths in the UK each year.

To help reduce this shocking statistic Jenny approached the Fire Service with the ‘First Gear & On Two Wheels Vehicle Education Programme’.

A group of 9 young adults between the ages of 18-21 attended Newton Aycliffe Fire Station on Thursday 25th October and joined White Watch for some education in Road Safety. The programme, which involves classroom work including important information to help keep them safe, while driving themselves, or as a passenger.

Real life videos and pictures are shown to help them understand the dangers of unsafe driving. These included careless driving, drink/drug driving, distractions while driving (mobile phones), not wearing a seatbelt and how the majority of road accidents occur in the inexperienced drivers (17-25) age group. The course then moves out onto the drill yard where 4 young people experience actually being cut out of a car as if it were a real incident.

At the beginning of the day the young people all take part in a road safety quiz. At the end of the day they were given the same quiz. The average at the start of the sessions was 56% and by the end it was 97%.

Crew Manager Glen Wharton commented “This highlights the amount of information the young people retained throughout the afternoon they had with us. As well as learning we try to make it a fun day and feel this shows in the results we attain”

All the young people were awarded a certificate, confirming their participation at the Fire Service part of the ‘First Gear & On Two Wheels Vehicle Education Programme’.