Free Good Egg guide for parents of young drivers
From Councillor Ted Richards, Cabinet member for Transport & Highways on 12 June 2012
In a bid to increase the safety of young and inexperienced drivers, Solihull Council is giving away free copies of a new guide to their parents.
Statistics for the borough reflect the disturbing national trend in young driver casualties. During 2009-2011, 30% of all driver casualties in Solihull were aged between 17 and 25 years old.
The Council’s Road Safety team will be giving away 600 copies of the ‘Good Egg Guide for Parents of New Drivers’, the newest publication in the award-winning Good Egg Safety series, in an effort to curb this trend.
The guide has been funded by the Arnold Clark Group and The Co-Operative Insurance, and included a survey of over 1000 parents ahead of the guide’s launch. It found that 78% of parents of new drivers are concerned their child will crash in their first year of driving.
The survey also shows that one in three parents think their children drive too fast, one in ten worries that their child will be tempted to use a mobile phone whilst driving, whilst a further one in ten are concerned their child will drink or take drugs and drive.
With an average of one in five drivers actually being involved in a crash in their first six months of driving, 135,000 free copies of the guide are being made available to concerned parents throughout the UK.
Councillor Ted Richards, Cabinet Member for Transport and Highways, said, “I fully endorse the guide and would recommend it to any parent whose child is beginning to take to the roads. It contains a lot of potentially life-saving information on the factors that contribute to road traffic accidents.”
Professor Steve Stradling, a leading transport psychologist who sits on the Good Egg National Steering Group said: “This publication will give parents the wherewithal to guide their children through the dangers during their fraught transition from anxious youngster to safe and careful driver. It focuses on avoiding all the factors such as distraction, tiredness, peer pressure, drink and drugs, and false confidence which can compromise the capacity to cope behind the wheel.”
To receive a copy of the guide, parents should email roadsafety2@solihull.gov.uk. or call 0121 704 6359.
For enquiries from members of the press and media only, please contact Alex Hemming on 0121 704 6136
Email: alex.hemming@solihull.gov.uk