http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... _1,00.html
What a teenage girl should worry about most: her boyfriend's driving
Joanna Bale
Teenage girls are to be taught in school that the biggest threat to life and limb is their boyfriend’s driving.
A hard-hitting film funded by the Home Office will be sent free to all secondary schools to highlight the dangers presented by teenage boys who get behind the wheel.
The film includes a dramatic crash scene created with the help of the emergency services. Firefighters from South Yorkshire are seen using real cutting equipment and rescue methods on the wreckage, with young actors playing the teenagers trapped inside.
Linda Gummery, spokeswoman for missdorothy.com, the charity behind the film, called Watch over Me III, said: “Our films are aimed at helping young people develop strategies for dealing with everyday risks such as knife crime and tough issues like internet paedophiles. But what struck us the most through our research for our latest film was that one of the biggest killers of teenage girls in Britain was their boyfriends’ bad driving.”
Although the charity has not been able to find statistics on the number of fatal car crashes involving teenage boys, during their research they came across many cases. In the film Meredydd Hughes, Chief Constable of South Yorkshire, says: “One fact quoted to me quite often is that the single biggest killer now of teenage girls is their teenage boyfriends driving their cars.”
Among those featured in the film is Josie Palmer, from Bristol, whose 16-year-old son, Richard, was a front-seat passenger in a stolen car that crashed during a high-speed police chase. He and the driver, also 16, died but Richard’s girlfriend, who was in the back seat, survived. Today is the fourteenth anniversary of his death.
Mrs Palmer said: “Richard wasn’t a yob. He was a kind, caring son, who was bored and disillusioned. He met the driver of the stolen car on a YTS scheme, but I’m not blaming anyone else, because Richard got into that car of his own free will.”
Mrs Palmer visits schools for the Impact Roadshow, a police scheme. She said: “His girlfriend was badly injured but survived and discovered she was pregnant with his baby. Apart from her physical injuries, she has suffered so much trauma. As for me, part of me died with Richard, but I know that his death has not been in vain.
“Teenage boys think they are immortal, but many tell me that the work I have done has made an impact on them.”
Young men are responsible for nearly a third of serious driving offences, according to recent Home Office figures.
In 2004 there were 7,017 convictions for “causing death or bodily harm by dangerous driving” or “dangerous driving”, and 33 per cent of them were committed by men aged 17-20. Male drivers of this age are estimated to account for only 3 per cent of the driving population.
Women, including young women, are much more safety-conscious drivers — they were responsible for 1 per cent of the serious convictions.
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Tragically misguided I'd say.
Not ONE WORD about what it takes to drive safely. Young drivers are supposed to guess or something.
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