Press Centre

Sunday December 6th 2009 - Today British Formula One star, Lewis Hamilton launched RoadSense, a brand new road safety initiative developed by the Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy. Piloting in Surrey, the launch of the educational scheme was also supported by Surrey County Council, the Surrey Fire and Rescue Service and Surrey Police who were also in attendance at the event.

RoadSense has been developed in direct response to the Department For Transport’s target to reduce the total number of road deaths and injuries amongst children and young people by at least 50% by 2020 . It will be the first scheme of its kind to offer school children from as young as 14 the chance to learn about road safety from the drivers’, passengers’ and pedestrians’ perspectives. The scheme, piloted in Surrey, will initially be open to all school children between the age of 14-18 years with the aim of rolling it out nationwide from 2010.

Introducing a unique approach to teaching road safety, RoadSense will be offered to schools as an add-on to their existing curriculum. It will provide students with a half-day interactive experience where they will learn about the importance of road safety through peer group discussions and the use of the unique driving facilities at Mercedes-Benz World.

Launching initially in Surrey, the RoadSense pilot complements the successful local campaigns of Drive SMART and Safe Drive Stay Alive by actively educating younger children about the importance of road safety, something the other schemes don’t directly address. The pilot aims to reduce the number of casualties on Surrey Roads  as well as add anti-social driving behaviour in the area, which was identified as local residents’ greatest concern  by Surrey County Council and Surrey Police.  Ian Dyson, Assistant Chief Constable said, “We are delighted to support the launch of the RoadSense initiative and the Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy. Both complement Surrey Police and Surrey County Council’s Drive SMART campaign which works to improve driving practices and challenges anti-social driving. With support of schemes such as RoadSense the public and private sectors are working together to tackle the issues that matter most to people in Surrey.”

Commenting from launch day, Lewis Hamilton said, “I am pleased to be supporting RoadSense, it’s a great initiative developed by the Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy that will hopefully benefit young people and improve road safety nationwide as it rolls out. Whether a pedestrian, passenger or driver we all have a responsibility to road safety when out on the road so it’s great to see a course that is addressing this with young people from an early age.”

Dermot Kelly, Managing Director of Mercedes-Benz Cars UK added, “RoadSense is a great initiative to teach the basics of road safety to teenagers. It highlights the responsibility that even non-drivers have to make the roads a safer place. We know from our experience with the Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy, that younger teenagers are more receptive to learning and if we can teach them about road safety early on, there is more chance that these skills will be put into practice at a later stage out on the public roads. Working with schools to offer this as an add-on to the school curriculum will mean that when pupils start to drive or be driven by their friends they have developed a responsible attitude towards driving and are aware of the wider risks involved.”

The three stage structure course will follow this format:

1. Introduction to RoadSense – 60 minutes. Pupils will be introduced to the RoadSense initiative which is modelled on the holistic approach of the Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy and its philosophy of learning for life. The students will be briefed on the half-day course and the RoadSense learning concept of considering road safety responsibilities from a driver, passenger and pedestrian point of view. This will help them to form new coping strategies to deal with peer pressure and distractions that they may come up against whilst out on the road.
2. Practical session behind the wheel – 90 minutes. Students are put in groups of three and allocated 30 minutes driving time each using the handling circuit facilities at Mercedes-Benz World. The lesson will be conducted under the careful guidance of a qualified Driving Academy Coach with the aim to helping pupils recognise the implications of distractions and speed on safety out on the road. The session will involve ‘real life’ risks and situations including passenger and music distractions as well as the impact of pedestrian behaviour which will ultimately help demonstrate the difficulties of recovering from risky situations out on the road. This session aims to educate pupils on how to act as passengers, pedestrians and future drivers.
3. Discussion Group – 60 minutes. Self assessment and risk avoidance are addressed through group discussions covering a broad range of topics including passenger and peer pressure, speed, sensation seeking and in-car distractions, such as mobile phones and music. Students will reflect on real life experiences from driver, passenger and pedestrians’ points of view and discuss how to prepare themselves for situations that may be faced whilst out on the road. The groups are led by a professional moderator and assisted by colleagues from Surrey Fire and Rescue Service or Surrey Police.
   

A half-day RoadSense course is priced at a subsidised price of £25 per pupil.


More information on Drive SMART and Safe Drive Stay Alive can be found here:

• Drive SMART –  www.surrey.police.uk and www.surreycc.gov.uk
• Safe Drive Stay Alive – www.safedrivesurrey.org

The Road Safety Strategy Post 2010 is available to download here:

• www.dft.gov.uk/roadsafetyconsultation