Winner of Lincolshire’s Young Driver Challenge scoops new Honda car

At the end of a 10 month competition for young drivers in Lincolnshire - believed to be the first of its kind in England – the worthy winner drove away in a brand new Honda Jazz.

The Young Driver Challenge, which was open to drivers aged 17 – 24 years working or living in Lincolnshire, launched on 22 September 2001. The competition was Government funded (with additional resources provided by Lincolnshire Honda) and managed by The Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership.

"The Challenge had four phases and our objective was to ensure that everyone who entered improved their driving as a result of doing so," says Greville Burgess, the Partnership’s principal road safety co-ordinator. "We were also successful in raising road safety awareness among this age group."

Young drivers were encouraged to enter by completing a multi-choice road safety questionnaire that was available across the county. Over 500 entrants progressed to the second phase and their prize for doing so was a one day driver improvement training course.

Immediately after the driver improvement training, which took place between January and March 2002, the contestants attended one of a number of regional centres known as ‘Pit Stops’. At these Pit Stops an interactive video presented by John Inverdale tested their theoretical knowledge of hazard awareness, road signs and basic road traffic law. 50 progressed past this second phase and were rewarded with a challenging off road experience. Following the off road experience the candidates took part in a rigorous driving assessment to determine the five finalists.

These five finalists - three woman and two men - participated in the grand final, held at the RAF Waddington Air Show on Sunday 30 June. The final comprised a series of challenges, each involving a different manoeuvrability exercise. Candidates were marked against time and accuracy with time penalties being added if any of the obstacles were hit. After a gruelling day the new car star prize was awarded to Julia Borman from South Lincolnshire (see pic above). All the finalists were presented with a personalised trophy, a day on the track at the Millbrook test centre in Milton Keynes and an advanced driving course with the Institute of Advanced Motorists.

A copy of the event information pack (which includes a video) is available from Greville Burgess, greville.burgess@lincolnshire.gov.uk for a small charge.