1st December 2009

****PRESS RELEASE****

Hard Hitting Internet Campaign Launched Targeting Young Drivers in Dorset

The Dorset Safety Camera Partnership (DSCP) has launched a hard hitting internet campaign designed to appeal to young drivers and demonstrate the importance of careful driving and the dangers of the road.

Over 450 young people in Dorset have viewed an award winning film which shows the dramatic consequences of reckless driving.  

Johnny Stephens, Head of Fixed Penalties for the Dorset Safety Camera Partnership, said: “With eight out of ten accidental deaths involving 15-19 year-old men occurring on the road*, this age group is particularly high risk.  However, young drivers are also hard to reach through traditional awareness raising advertising campaigns.  By using the internet we are able to tap into their everyday activities whilst showing them a film which brings home the reality of a fatal collision.”

The film has been sent out to students in sixth forms, colleges and Bournemouth University via an email which directs them to a website where the film is played.  The website also provides advice on driving and how to be a safe passenger in a vehicle.  The students viewing the website get a chance to win a day’s driving at Thruxton where they can experience driving powerful cars in safety.

Having won a Gold Industry Award for Effective Communication from the International Visual Communications Association, the film was chosen by the DSCP to highlight the importance of road safety and to teach young drivers about the heightened danger of carrying passengers.  It shows two teenagers in a car, with the driver slowly realising that his girlfriend has been killed as a result of a collision caused by his reckless driving. 

Johnny Stephens continues: “The number of young drivers viewing the website is a very positive sign and shows that this age group is increasingly taking a more serious approach to driving rather than seeing it as a thrill-seeking pursuit.”

The website and film can be viewed at www.performinthecar.co.uk

ENDS

*Source: Young Drivers: Reforming Learning to Drive, A report from the ABI

Notes to editor:

The Dorset Safety Camera Partnership
The Dorset Safety Camera Partnership, which was set up in August 2002, constitutes a partnership between Dorset County Council, Borough of Poole Council, Bournemouth Borough Council, Dorset Police, NHS South West, Highways Agency, Her Majesty’s Courts Service and the Crown Prosecution Service.

The Partnership, through a combination of measures including education, engineering and enforcement, is working together to reduce the number of people who are killed or seriously injured on Dorset’s roads, as a consequence of both excess and inappropriate speed.  It is responsible for the operation and maintenance of fixed site, mobile and red-light junction cameras throughout Dorset.