Safe Drive Stay Alive

As part of my work I went across to Glenrothes in Fife today. I had been invited to attend an event called 'Safe Drive Stay Alive'. It is on every day this week and 5th and 6th year pupils are invited from schools all over Fife. After ministers, councillors and others had given their speeches to myself and other road safety representatives,we were taken to an auditorium where the kids were. One guy was working to get the kids hyped up by getting a few of them to take part in games on the stage, having them sing and making waves using their arms and standing up and sitting down.

Then came the road safety bit where they played a DVD on three screens where a young driver picks up a brother and sister in his car. The brother sat beside the driver and bet him that his car couldn't manage 60mph then after it did his sister called the driver on his mobile. The next thing the car crashed and as the sister wasn't wearing a seatbelt she was catapulted through the windscreen and killed.

After that every so often the film would be halted and a member of the police, fire and ambulance service would tell the audience how accidents like the one they were watching had affected them, the victims and the relatives of those involved.

However, the most sobering part was when a woman described how her friend, friend's daughter and son were killed by a young drink\drugs driver and how their lives had been affected. A guy who had been thrown over the handlebars of his motorbike told us how he had managed to pick himself up and walk back to the main road. He then collapsed in agony and although a passerby walked past him thinking he was drunk he did report it to the police. When he was eventually taken to hospital he was told that if the feeling below his waist did not return within then next 24 hours he would be paralysed for the rest of his life. Sadly it never returned. He was only 19 and the accident happened in 1990.

It was quite a hard hitting event and I'm sure that the effects won't last for all the kids that took part. However, if it makes some of them think more carefully when they learn to drive or are in a car where one of their friends is driving recklessly then it will have been worth it.