Road safety awareness

A group of students in Wakefield were given key advice by a top lawyer about staying safe on the road as new young drivers.

Teenagers at Wakefield Girls High School enjoyed a talk by Jane Horton, a head and spinal injury expert from Irwin Mitchell, about ensuring they don’t add to the toll of road crash victims. The most up-to-date figures show that 11,489 drivers aged 17 to 19 are killed or injured on the UK’s roads per year.

They watched a film from road safety charity Brake highlighting the dangers faced by first-time drivers entitled 2young2die which covers topics like the importance of wearing seatbelts, driving at the correct speed and never taking the wheel under the influence of drink or drugs.

Jane Horton, who is based at Irwin Mitchell’s Leeds office, said: “I deal every day with cases where road collisions involving young drivers have ripped lives apart and this scheme makes it very clear what dangers they must be aware of and how to avoid them.

“My talk and the DVD drew on first-hand accounts of the impact these kind of incidents can have so I think the pupils at the school - who have just started or are ready to begin learning to drive - came away with a real sense of the responsibility they take when getting behind the wheel.

“Hopefully that information will stand them in good stead not just as they set out on learning to drive but for many years to come.”

Wakefield Girls High School headmistress Pat Langham added: “Learning to drive marks a significant point in a young person’s life and while I know our pupils will already be aware of the potential dangers involved, this presentation reinforced those risks and makes them safer on the road.”