Sponsored Editorial: Produced in association with Kent County Council

The four-part course specifically supports young people to understand the key skills required for driving, but it has been written to compliment the Speak Out campaign, designed to empower those young people as passengers too.

With changes in the PHSE curriculum, the course will provide support to sixth form classes in secondary school, assisting teachers to deliver the Health & Wellbeing core theme in relation to road safety.

The course is offered completely virtually and can be organised as part of a drop-down day, or schools can arrange delivery via a session per week.

We know that the frontal lobe of the brain does not fully develop until around 25 years of age, this is the part of the brain that is responsible for things like regulating your impulses, risk management and social awareness…so by identifying some of these key areas where young people may have to work harder – we aim to reduce the number of young people involved in crashes.

Unfortunately, young driver casualties (prior to lockdown) made up 17% of all casualties and 14% of fatalities in Kent.

The Road Safety Team wants to reduce this number significantly, and the new casualty reduction strategy, Vision Zero, aims to see Kent working towards that all important zero fatalities.

Driving and Seeing is the first session students encounter, they look at causation of crashes, hazard perception and vision can impact on judgement, specifically when assessing time, space and speed.

The second session, Speed and Force, provides the class with an idea of how speed relates to stopping distance.

It looks at the limitations of grip, road surface wear and how the road surface will change with the elements. Students review the seatbelt rules in their car and how the unrestrained passenger affects their safety.

Impairment is the third part of the programme, the session explores how alcohol and drugs can impact upon awareness and how impairment can affect driving. The focus highlights how drugs and alcohol will influence emotions, vision, coordination and thinking. Students are informed as to the legislation and the consequences of driving whilst impaired is explained to them.

The last session looks at Impulse and Control. It aims to help students appreciate potential risks and problems when driving.

Students discover how human error is usually the cause of crashes, and how emotions impact on impulse and behaviours when we drive.

They also explore crash scenarios and discuss how the emotional state of the driver may have influenced their decision making.

To book a course of find out more information about the programme, contact Roadsafety@kent.gov.uk