Driving safety lessons
Program a chance for motorists
YOUNG drivers experienced the dangers of impaired driving and the danger it poses to other motorists in a free program at the weekend.
The Ford Driving Skills for Life program took drivers back to critical basics such as how to safely perform an emergency stop, and swerve and steering techniques.
Instructor James Stewart said it was a free communitybased program designed to teach road safety to young drivers.
“We get young drivers behind the wheel to be able to do an emergency stop, be able to swerve, work on steering techniques and then also work on their attitudes,” he said.
“(Then we) give them an impairment suit so they get to feel what its like to be under the influence while driving a motor vehicle.
“It’s all things they should already know before they get behind the wheel.”
Ford sponsors a series of programs around the country, supplying vehicles and instructors to better equip road users with vital skills.
It is the fourth year the car company has rolled out the initiative Australia-wide, with regional locations including Toowoomba, Wollongong, Ballarat and Brisbane added to the schedule.
A key aspect of the sessions focuses on driver behaviour, with studies finding nearly one in five people admit to road rage or being actively aggressive towards cyclists and other motorists.
Mr Stewart said the sessions were about up-skilling drivers and reinforcing safety messages.
“It just gives them a chance,” he said of program participants.
“They don’t know what they don’t know.
“We let them loose on the public roads and they don’t even know how to do an emergency stop.
“Just get them to feel that understanding that if they need to they can brake hard and the car will do the work for them.”
The program was held at Helidon on Saturday.