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Lewis Hamilton Launches Safe Driving Initiative
Wed, 09 Dec 2009

Formula One star Lewis Hamilton has helped launch a new road safety campaign at the Mercedes-Benz World in Weybridge, Surrey.

The RoadSense scheme is an educational initiative offering school children aged 14 to 18 the chance to have hands-on driving experience and training so that they learn the responsibilities of driving before taking their tests.

The 30-minute practical session, which will take place at Mercedes -Benz World, will also involve ‘real life’ risks and situations including music distractions and texting while behind the wheel of a car, and will be followed by an hour-long discussion group.

The scheme will be tested on 5000 children in Surrey, before being rolled out to schools nationwide as an add-on to the existing curriculum.

Launching the scheme on Sunday, former Formula One world champion Hamilton said: "It's a great thing for young kids to come here and at least raise awareness."

"Hopefully, they'll come here and they'll walk away with a little bit more knowledge which will equip them even better for when they take their own driving lessons and tests," said Hamilton.

He added: "Its all about being in control so giving you that experience up front before you actually get to having your test and becoming road legal is key to reducing accidents ."

Surrey County Council leader Andrew Povey said: "School children are the drivers of the future so it is vital we educate them about the importance of responsible driving."

RoadSense has been developed by the Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy and is supported by Surrey County Council, Surrey Fire and Rescue and Surrey Police.

The initiative comes in response to the Department For Transport’s target to reduce the total number of road deaths and injuries among children and young people by at least 50 per cent by 2020.
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