Student protesters urge young car passengers to ‘Speak up to Slow Down!’
A week of activities to educate young drivers on road safety held at Stratford upon Avon College culminates today (Friday) with students staging a lunchtime protest to encourage car passengers to speak up if they feel they are being driven dangerously.
The protest will be followed by a powerful talk from Paul Kerr whose teenage son Jon was killed in a car being driven by a recently qualified driver.
The protest is part of a Warwickshire County Council campaign called ‘Speak up to Slow Down’. The protesters will use T-shirts and placards to gain the attention of students. They will also distribute postcards that explain the campaign and include a hard-hitting image of the aftermath of a car crash to demonstrate the potential consequences of speeding and other risky driving behaviour.
Research shows a quarter of drivers aged 17-24 admit to having been asked to drive more safely by their passengers. This is of particular concern given that many passengers in this age group report they are unwilling to speak up. (Midlands Safety Camera Partnerships Group, Drivers’ Attitude Study Final Report. 2006).
Cllr Martin Heatley, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said: “Many young people will have been in a car and clung on to the seat or stamped on an imaginary brake pedal, when really they should have just said something to slow the driver down.
“We hope that our young drivers will take notice of a plea from their friends to drive more safely, rather than face the consequences of penalty points, a fine, an increase in insurance premiums, or worst of all, the life-long responsibility for killing or seriously injuring themselves, their loved ones, their friends or a stranger.”
Paul Kerr, whose 17 year old son Jon was killed in a car being driven by a newly qualified young driver when it left the road at speed and hit a tree, said: “You see cars being driven by young people at speed, without seatbelts, on mobile phones. It’s almost become the norm. It’s frightening and it needs to stop before more young lives our lost.
“Young drivers need to take greater care and responsibility for their passengers and the passengers need to take control of the situation by telling the driver to drive more safely or by getting out of the car if they feel unsafe.”