Ford announces new nationwide training for young drivers

25 June 2013

Ford has announced the introduction of its globally successful Ford Driving Skills for Life programme in the UK, as latest statistics confirm that road accidents remain one of the leading causes of death in young people.

As part of a pan-European launch, and in a bid to tackle common concerns for the vulnerability of inexperienced drivers under 25, Ford will invest more than £1.2 million (€1.5 million) this year in hands-on training for 5,000 novice drivers in the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy and thousands more through the online Driving Skills for Life Academy.

Ford Driving Skills for Life has already delivered hands-on training to 100,000 drivers worldwide and a further 500,000 online since launching 10 years ago in the US, and with Ford investing €1.5 million in the first year, the safer driving training initiative aims to train 1,000 students for FREE in the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy, and support thousands more online.

A Ford poll of 9,500 people – young drivers and their parents – shows most young drivers admit to speeding; almost half eat or drink at the wheel, and two in five use a mobile phone while driving.

Ford Driving Skills for Life will provide free hands-on expert training to young drivers alongside a dedicated website that together address the leading causes of accidents in this age group: hazard recognition, vehicle handling, speed/space management and distractions.

• The Ford survey found 31 per cent of parents of 17-24 year olds in the UK are more concerned that their children might be involved in a crash, than be a victim of a crime, lose their job, or fail at school/college.
• The survey also showed that while most UK young drivers ranked getting to their destination safely as the most important factor in a car journey, 45 per cent exceeded speed limits, 27 per cent said they had been involved in a crash or a near miss; 11 per cent had lost control of a car; 10 per cent had been involved in a road rage incident, and 4 per cent admitted they had driven after drinking excess alcohol.

Ford research was carried out between: 12/05/2013 and 28/05/2013. Sample: 4,325 parents who drive with children aged 17-24 and 5,160 young adults who drive aged 17-24 from the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

In UK, 1,000 UK parents who are drivers and have children aged 17-25, and 1,149 young drivers aged 17-25 participated in this Ford research.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and the Automobile Association (AA) will be long-term partners in the programme.

One in five of all reported personal injury road accidents in 2011 involved young car drivers, and 1,552 were killed or seriously injured - 25 per cent of all such casualties.