A new resource to help in the teaching of young drivers about road safety to be launched.

The new toolkit will be freely available to road safety partnerships and other stakeholders.

This will be officially launched at a webinar on 1 October.

Preventing emergencies

The Young Driver Road Safety Education Toolkit has been developed by the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC).

This came in response to a ‘sector move towards using evidence-led and evaluated interventions’.

The toolkit will be available to all blue light services, road safety partnerships and local authorities for free.

Speaking at Young Driver Focus ’24, Chief Fire Officer Dan Quin emphasised the need for greater collaboration hen it comes to young driver and passenger road safety.

“There is a need for a collaborative, national approach to road safety and road safety messaging, joining together and maximising the resources available.”

Designed by evidence

Dr Elizabeth Box has been heavily involved in designing and testing the ‘DriveFit’ intervention.

It is the development of a suite of young driver-focused products/packages that can be consistently delivered nationally by all partners.

“Suddenly, it feels like government, academics, and practitioners are starting to converge in a similar direction when it comes to young driver road safety education. That best practice is evidence-led and have good quality evaluation, and then to share that evaluation.”

Quin continued, stating that “Road safety is now one of the key priorities of the National Fire Chiefs Council.”

Time for change

Until recently, there has been a wide variation in the way resources have been developed and utilised. However, now there is greater collaboration and an understanding that everyone needs to be on the same page.

One barrier is that designing these interventions requires expertise and time.

Good evaluation is vital and a specialist skill.

This is an expensive process that many organisations don’t have the funds for, and one size does not necessarily fit all.

This new resource aims to provide everything needed in one place.

It’s a sharing and collaborative platform that brings together experts and local authorities, all bound by agreed-upon criteria.

Join in

The launch webinar takes place on 1 October (11am-12.30pm) to coincide with a joint NFCC and National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) operation which focuses on young drivers and riders.

Operation Spotlight runs between 23 September – 6 October.

Join the webinar to hear how NFCC and NPCC are working in alignment when it comes to design, delivery and evaluation of young driver education, as well as to hear details of how to access the toolkit and to see presentations on the interventions available.

Guest speakers include:

  • Leanne McMahon (NFCC deputy road safety lead)
  • Marc Clothier (NPCC National Roads Policing Operations Intelligence and Investigations)
  • Emma Tracey (Kent County Council – Young Driver and Passenger)
  • Michael Spence ( Surrey FRS – DriveFit)
  • Cheryl Evans ( West Berks Council – GoDrive)
  • Chris Boston ( Devon and Somerset FRS – Learn2Live)

Click here to register for the webinar.

“This is a spirit of collaboration,”states Quin. “We want to work with everybody
doing the very best work around the country because we need to create the best resources for our young people to make safer roads.”