Thousands of young people will be brought face-to-face with the horrific aftermath of a road traffic collision as part of a brand new road safety initiative, ‘Safe Drive Stay Alive’.

The project is the first of its kind in Greater Manchester and uses real people, including emergency service staff and family members of those lost in collisions, to tell their own personal stories of tragedy and loss.

Students from across Greater Manchester will attend one of 14 performances taking place at Middleton Arena where they’ll be greeted with a party atmosphere before being hit with the harrowing and hard-hitting consequences of driving dangerously.

Greater Manchester Police, Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service, North West Ambulance Service, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust’s Major Trauma Coordinator’s, the prison service and Drivesafe have joined forces to launch the project and hope it will help reduce the number of young lives being lost on the roads of Greater Manchester.

In the last 10 years, there were 232 young driver related deaths in Greater Manchester. This figure includes young people and people killed by a young driver.

The average cost of young driver collisions in 2011-2013 was more than £72 million per year, which accounts for a quarter of Greater Manchester’s casualty costs.

Young people are more at risk of being involved in a collision, despite a smaller proportion of them holding a driving licence.

Inspector Matt Bailey-Smith from Greater Manchester Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit said: “Road safety isn’t a subject to be taken lightly and Safe Drive Stay Alive uses an emotive and hard-hitting approach to make young people sit up and think about the consequences of their decisions.

“It’s easy to switch off when looking at a poster or watching an advert but the impact of a parent stood in front of you talking about the loss of their son or daughter takes it to another level and will make even the most hardened of young people think twice about their actions”.

Dean, Dee and Hannah Wilson lost their 21-year-old son and brother when he crashed into a tree in 2010 and will be sharing their personal stories at Safe Drive Stay Alive. They said: “Although emotionally very difficult, as a family we feel a certain sense of pride in being invited to be part of Safe Drive Stay Alive. Through our volunteering, our very simple hope is to prevent other families from suffering such a profound loss. In doing this we feel some good will come from the loss of our Matt.”

Karen Delaney from Drivesafe said: “Young drivers and passengers in Greater Manchester are at a disproportionately high risk of being killed or seriously injured as a result of road traffic collisions. The Safe Drive Stay Alive project, funded through the Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership aims at reducing these risks through a powerful mature performance through thought provoking real scenario’s about consequences and posing preventative measures. Decision making skills are an essential part of being a safe road user”.

Meanwhile Singer-songwriter Mike Dignam has leant his support to the project and his song, Beautiful Tragedy will be played during the performance as well as being offered as a free download to students. He said: “I feel very privileged and humbled to have been asked to be involved in such an important and significant campaign aimed at young people effected by, or involved with, road traffic accidents. It’s a fantastic initiative and something that resonates with me, as growing up both my parents were in the road safety police so I know how impactful these accidents can be.”

Follow @SafeDriveGM on twitter and Instagram and use the hashtag #SafeDriveGM to join in the conversation.

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