A groundbreaking driver training course aimed at 10-17 year olds has announced it is to launch another large scale venue in Manchester to help cope with demand.
Young Driver will open at EventCity on 24th July, offering anyone over the age of 10 the chance to drive a car in a safe but realistic environment. This will run alongside the scheme’s existing venues at The Trafford Centre and Etihad Campus, although Young Driver’s Makro venue in Eccles will cease to operate after the summer.
More than 6,000 Young Driver lessons were given to Manchester teens over the last year. The new venue will provide valuable extra capacity for the scheme in the city, with extra cars and instructors enabling hundreds of additional lessons.
Shockingly, two out of ten newly qualified drivers crash within six months of passing their test, rising to 40 per cent of 17-year old males. Only eight per cent of drivers are aged 17 – 24 and yet they account for a worrying 30 per cent of people who are killed in cars every year. Four hundred people are killed in accidents involving young drivers every year in the UK.
But for those who have taken a Young Driver course, the rate of accidents in the first six months after passing their test drops by more than a half, to fewer than one in ten. At a Young Driver session dual controlled cars are used and tuition is provided by highly qualified CRB-checked driving instructors. Youngsters are encouraged to consider responsible driving on specially created courses which include T junctions, roundabouts, space awareness areas, parking zones and a road system where youngsters can master gear changing. Young Driver recently lowered its minimum age from 11 to 10, opening up the opportunity for even more young people.
Kim Stanton from Young Driver added: “We’re delighted to be opening such an exciting additional venue, and to be able to increase our availability in Manchester. EventCity provides us with a very large space, which allows youngsters to try their hand at a wide range of driving skills and techniques, and obviously the location is fantastic, being right next door to The Trafford Centre. We will have our hospitality bus there on event days serving teas and coffees, and allowing parents to get a good view of the course from the top deck.
“With 1 in 5 young people crashing within six months of passing their test, it is vital something is done to help our youngsters become safer drivers. Young Driver lessons have now been delivered to more than 350,000 10-17 year olds across the UK which will make a huge difference when it is time for that generation to take to the roads for real. We believe it is important to train drivers over a longer period of time and that catching youngsters when their attitudes towards driving are still developing is the key to producing a safer driver. By starting at a younger age you can more easily focus on attitude and behaviour and you have a better chance of tackling a young person’s sense of invulnerability.”
Motoring expert and presenter Quentin Willson supports Young Driver, saying: “Both my son, now age 17, and daughter, age 11, have had driving lessons with Young Driver. I think it’s vital – it’s a road safety revolution in the making.”
Driving tuition is available for disabled youngsters and Young Driver can also cater for birthday parties. Thirty or sixty minute lessons must be booked in advance. Lessons start from £34.95.
Young Driver will run once or twice a month in the city, and has already confirmed dates at EventCity up until April 2017.
For more information, to book a lesson or to buy vouchers visit www.youngdriver.eu or call 0844 371 9010.
