Driver training is possibly the most important personal safety scheme any of us undergo.

Driving or being in a moving motor vehicle is the most dangerous thing we will ver be involved with in our lives. The statistics speak for themselves.

Despite this, most of us, young and old, parent or child, treat it with a sense of nonchalance.

Isn’t it time we all invested more in understanding and protecting ourselves from the the dangers?

In the driving seat

Being a driving instructor, as we know from personal experience, is generally undervalued.

But the job is essential for keeping young people safe behind the wheel, whilst ensuring the roads are safe for all other users.

With this in mind, gaining more expertise on understanding and reducing the dangers of and, for, young drivers is key.

Seeing the way forward

Young Driver Focus (YDF) is one of the most established young driver events in the road safety calendar.

It brings together those with a keen interest in keeping our most at-risk road users safe, from professionals and academics, to politicians and youth workers.

Attendees get to hear the latest research, ideas and interventions for learners and newly qualified drivers.

The organisers from FirstCar have a real grasp of how to bring together experts and industry voices. They instigate discussions about young driver road safety and explore the facts, figures and futures.

For road safety professionals, including  driving instructors working at the coal face, this is an invaluable and highly useful resource for both teaching and producing safer young drivers.

On stage

The latest announcement of speakers and  presentations for this year include Annabel Priest, Ian Edwards and Chris Botston.

They will share their experiences in removing fear from their theatre-style performances. And Nicola Wass, CEO of So-Mo will lead a presentation on the transformative power of behavioural science in delivering road safety.

Nicola says, “Seatbelt non-wearing rates amongst Birmingham’s South-Asian communities were 6-times higher than the national average, with young people experiencing the greatest impact. Engaging 470,697 young-people, the campaign not only captured attention, it achieved unprecedented recall rates 4-8 weeks post-viewing, challenging accepted models of cognitive-processing and memory. This presentation will be of interest to anyone seeking to implement impactful young-driver initiatives.”

The Learn2Live team have been delivering theatre style road safety education to year 12/13 students in Devon, Somerset and Cornwall since 2008.

They are passionate about making sure what’s delivered makes a real difference to the target audience.

Working closely with Dr Liz Box and road safety consultant Ian Edwards, they have developed a new presentation utilising the power of the theatre-style delivery.

The team will share their journey – the challenges they faced, the format of their new presentation and the initial evaluation results.

You can see the full list of speakers here.

The event

Another bonus of attending is enjoying the grand surrounding of  the Royal Automobile Club on Pall Mall. It’s ben the event’s venue for many years, and is terrific environment for networking with other road safety professionals. Check out this film and see for yourself.

You can find all the information you need here.