Ford’s young driver training tour proves a hit
Written by: Abaranji Sivakumar, Last updated:14th February 2022
Young drivers are typically the most accident-prone road users in the UK but a training programme from Ford has been touring the UK to address many of these inexperienced errors.
During a free two-day event at Colchester United Football Club’s Community Stadium, more than 200 young drivers took part in the Ford Driving Skills For Life (DSFL) programme, which provides hands-on, practical training sessions to help develop their skills by simulating real-world situations.
Drivers aged 18-24 at the Colchester event participated in a range of training exercises including speed awareness, distracted driving, vehicle handling and the simulated effects of drugs and alcohol.
Jenny Needham, one of the participants, said the event was perfect for anyone who hadn’t driven in a while or needed a confidence boost.
“The different techniques we practiced had good application to real-life driving and helped improve my confidence when dealing with emergency situations – I learnt a lot,” she commented.
Now in its sixth year, DFSL has provided free training to more than half a million youngsters around the world so far.
New to DSFL this year though was the opportunity to experience ‘WheelSwap’: a virtual reality demonstration that allows the user to see the road from the perspective of other road users, namely cyclists and car drivers.
Ford usually holds DFSL in or around London but it has been taking the training on the road this month with a weekend at Nottingham Forest Football Club following its Colchester event. Other events around the UK could soon be scheduled in light of the response to this month’s events.
Jez Strong, general manager for Tele-Gence, commented: “Improving driver training for all ages is a surefire way to improve road safety. But another method is an effective telematics system and any organisation serious about strengthening their duty of care should certainly investigate the option.”
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