Ford continues support for teenage learner drivers

Home

Motoring

Written by Michael Moroney

Thursday, 27 March 2008

Ford is recommitting its support to former rally driver Rosemary Smith’s Think Awareness road safety initiative, as the programme launches a new school’s pack. The specially devised training programme has given thousands of Irish teenagers their first taste of safe driving in a thoroughly safe environment. The initiative was set up ten years ago following the success of similar programmes in the US.

“I had observed the driver education which my nephews and nieces were receiving in the US at the time,” recalls Rosemary. ‘It convinced me that driver teaching should be part and parcel of a school curriculum. Programmes in the UK bore this out - there is a clear correlation between education and the reduction in tragic driving accidents on the road.’

At the introduction of the Think Awareness campaign’s new-look school’s pack, Eddie Murphy, MD and Chairman of Ford Ireland, said: “The earlier that we can teach our young drivers proper driving behaviour, the better chance we have of producing safe and experienced young drivers. That has to have a positive effect on road safety across the country”. He continued: “It is a scandal that Rosemary’s valuable programme – running for more than 10 years now – has still not received official approval by the state or its agencies.”

Rosemary and a team of instructors provide the Think Awareness driving instruction for transition-year students all over the country, with over 11,000 students having been trained to date. All of the schooling is provided on private property so there is no risk to the learners or other road users. The main base for the initiative is Goffs in Naas, but the team also travels around the country providing the training in schools with suitable space. Think Awareness programme students are trained in Ford Fiesta models which Rosemary believes are ideal vehicles in which to teach young drivers.

Comments (0) »