Students from 20 London boroughs took part in a series of "hard hitting workshops" workshops yesterday designed to cut down the number of car accidents involving young people.
According to official figures 17 to 25-year-olds account for just eight per cent of all car driving licences in London but are involved in 18 per cent of all collisions.
The ‘Risk It and Lose It’ workshops were set up by the London Safety Camera Partnership, led by Transport for London (TfL) and included a mock inquest held by a real Coroner, a dramatic filmed reconstruction of a crash and presentations from members of the emergency services and people affected by real life crashes.
The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said: ‘Transport for London has worked hard to reduce the number of young lives needlessly lost to road accidents in the capital."
"The numbers of children and young people killed and injured has been successfully cut by 58 per cent compared to the mid to late 1990s, but we are determined to reduce this number further."
Organisers wanted to get across the message that ‘if you speed, or are a passenger in a speeding vehicle, you risk losing your life, your licence, your friends and your freedom’ in a bid to address both the physical and social consequences of dangerous driving.
Christine Fitzgerald, Road Safety Communications Manager, London Safety Camera Partnership, said: "Young drivers are far too heavily represented in collision statistics. Some of the reasons for this are young drivers can be over confident behind the wheel and often do not understand the consequences of speeding."
