Young drivers get safety campaign

Young drivers in Surrey are the target of a new safety campaign, 24dash.com has reported.

Drive 2 Survive features a new website and a competition in which young people create a video on road safety which is voted on as the best by visitors to the site.

The site gives driving safety tips and encourages them to take extra lessons even after they have passed their test, in an effort to reduce accidents and fatalities among young drivers.

Duncan Knox, the Surrey Safety Camera Partnership's project manager, warned that the new initiative was vital because of the poor driving records of young people.

"The statistics make grim reading - one in three male drivers aged between 17 and 20 will crash within two years of passing their test," he said.

"Young men are more likely to drive too fast, to show off to their friends and to take risks - which means they are also far more likely to kill or injure themselves, their friends or other road users."

Any push to encourage safer driving has been welcomed by experts after the Driving Standards Agency earlier this year signalled more stringent driving tests were on the way.