News
27.11.2007
Bid to reduce road deaths
A hard-hitting new initiative aimed at reducing the number of young drivers involved in collisions on Northamptonshire's roads was launched on Tuesday. Last year 51 drivers aged between 17 to 24 were killed or seriously injured on county roads. This represents 29 per cent of the total casualties. In an effort to combat this statistic, the Casualty Reduction Partnership has produced a DVD showing a typical young driver road collision. 2fast2soon shows a group of friends going out to celebrate their A-level results and university places. It highlights how events can go from celebration to disaster so easily and explores the effects on all of those involved in it. The film will be shown to around 3,000 students at 2fast2soon events taking place around the county.
Northampton Herald & Post, 22nd November 2007
27.11.2007
'I just hope this gets through to somebody'
A film about a tragic car accident starring real paramedics, fire crews and police from Northamptonshire has been shown to thousands of teenagers as part of a new road safety campaign. The film, 2fast2soon, shows four teenagers on their way to a party whose car crashes, killing some of the group and injuring others. Part of the 20-minute film shows only the femaile passenger screaming after she recovers consciousness in the car to find her frinds dead or passed out. It also shows the teenagers being cut out of the car and taken to hospital, the reaction of a parent when she is told her child has died and has a live discussion afterwards between the emergency services staff from the film. At a screening in the Derngate Theatre yesterday afternoon, the production was applauded by the teenage audience. Nicole Short, Principal (Casualty) Reduction Officer at Northamptonshire County Council said: "What we wanted was to have an impact with a short DVD. We wanted to get it through to the teenagers and make the most impact we could in a short space of time."
While the passengers in the car were played by actors, the paramedics, fire crews and police played themselves. Mandy Lowe, Paramedic Team Leader at Towcester Station, played herself in the film and also appeared on-stage afterwards to discuss the consequences of road traffic accidents. Speaking afterwards she told the Chronicle & Echo: "We did have cues and a bit of a script but in the main we just did our job as we normally would. It was all filmed live and then they picked out the bits they wanted. I just hope this gets through to somebody, even if it's just one person."
The thousands of students seemed impressed with the film. Afterwards Lynette Miamaphek, aged 16, a sixth form student at Mereway College said: "It was really touching with the people dying and all that. It teaches you not to do stuff like drink and drive. After watching that I want to be really careful when I learn to drive because something can always happen."
Road deaths message on film
Northamptonshire County Council's Casualty Reduction Partnership took on the film project after 51 people aged between 17 and 24 were killed or seriously injured on Northamptonshire's roads last year. The film will be shown to 3,000 county teenagers in the coming weeks, and will be shown to other teenagers next year. County Councillor Liz Tavener (New Duston, Con) cabinet member for community safetly said: "Young people aged 17 to 24 are a notoriously difficult group to reach with road safety messages and information about driving safely. The 2fast2soon film doesn't pull any punches, instead it shows young drivers exactly what could happen if they take unnecessary risks on the roads. We hope that by using this hard hitting film alongside a debrief from emergency services staff we will be able to help young people become safer drivers and avoid collisions in the future."
Northampton Chronicle & Echo, 21st November 2007
