RoSPA project wins Prince’s award

THE Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents’ Young Drivers at Work Project has won a Prince Michael International Road Safety Award.
A presentation was made to RoSPA’s road safety team at the safety charity’s annual meeting in Birmingham. The Royal Awards recognise achievements in road safety and are presented annually to the most outstanding examples of innovation in the field across the world.
RoSPA’s Young Drivers at Work Project, carried out between 2008 and 2010, began with a groundbreaking study to develop a better understanding of the risks faced, and created, by drivers aged 17 to 24 while they are at work.
Using the findings, RoSPA then developed a Young Drivers at Work Workshop, during which young employees discuss their own experiences of driving for work. The discussions encourage participants to reflect on personal tendencies and assumptions that affect safety, as well as the underlying causes of accidents such as poor journey planning. Participants then suggest strategies to improve their safety and identify what they could do to successfully put them into action.
RoSPA’s project was funded by the Department of Transport (DfT) and conducted with the help of the DfT, Driving Standards Agency, local councils, RoadSafe and Tesco.com. To ensure the workshop can be used by as many people as possible, an online toolkit is freely available at www.rospa.com/roadsafety/youngdriversatwork/