Action-packed day drives home the road safety message

An all-action young drivers’ event gave students at Cambridge Regional College the chance to test their reactions, try out first aid and ‘drive’ simulators in bad-weather conditions – all with an underlying safety message behind the fun.

Among the activities was a hard-hitting crash simulator to drive home the importance of road safety – a key message as more than 3,500 young people aged between 16 and 25 have been killed or seriously injured on Cambridgeshire roads in the last five years.

Students tested their reactions with remote control cars with the Drugs and Alcohol team, tried the latest mocktails designed for a good night out while still being safe to drive – and discovered just how long it can take the body to break down the alcoholic kind.

CRC lecturer Cathy Watts said the day had been an eye-opener for the students.

“There were lots of great fun activities to take part in, everything from ‘driving’ a fire engine in an emergency to testing braking distances, but underlying them all was a very strong road safety message,” she said.

“We had a mix of non-drivers, learners and drivers among the students and they all came away saying they had learned key things they hadn’t known before.”

Eighty-nine students studying Uniformed Public Services attended the event at Huntingdon racecourse, organised by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Road Safety Partnership and designed to put young people on the right road to safety.

The CRC students joined hundreds of others from across the county for the event, which was attended by more than 30 organisations, including emergency services and motoring experts. Magpas was also on hand to give advice on first aid in an emergency and the key steps to helping accident victims.

The visit gave the students the chance to be among the first to trial a new award-winning initiative, Drive iQ, which uses a range of interactive online modules to assess individuals’ driving intelligence – focusing on distractions, alcohol and drugs, seatbelts, and perception.

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