For many ADIs, attending a conference seemingly outside the mainstream doesn’t seem to make sense.

Young Driver Focus (YDF) is one such event, where road safety professionals and academics get together, present and discuss the latest developments and findings.

However, as a driving instructor, perhaps you should reconsider and book yourself in.

On the road

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 ever 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.

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

After all, 1,171 people were killed on the roads in 2022 (the last full set of stats), and over 28,000 seriously injured. Nearly 106,000 were less seriously injured. You may not die, but many people will spend the rest of their lives suffering the consequences. This is just one year.

The more all of us can learn and understand about the dangers of the road, and how best to influence the driving habits of others, especially young drivers, the better.

Considering our role is working almost exclusively with new, young drivers, its essential we are up to speed with the best ways to get the message of road safety and safer driving across to them.

YDF ’24 is an opportunity to do just that, and what you can learn and contribute is priceless.

New thinking, old problems

This years sees presentations on subjects as the real values of practical driving experience before the test.

Or how social media platforms can be best utilised to get crucial road safety and safe driving messages across to the younger audience.

What about presentations on how to maximise positive young driver behaviour by utilising behavioural science.

There are plenty of examples too of how the approach to positively influencing and educating young people have been changing for the better.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, whether local authority backed initiatives, or the emergency services educational roles.

These presentations cover a swathe of different proven examples of new and existing methodologies.

You can see the full list of speakers here.

In the driving seat

All these areas of debate, study and discourse can aid your work as driver trainers. In fact, The Honest Truth’s Olly Taylor will be trumpeting the essential role of the humble driving instructor who has, for too long, been missing from the road safety equation.

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.

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.