Younger driver competition offers action packed day at Silverstonee

A free road safety competition for younger drivers - with a great prize on offer for the winners - launched on 1 June. The competition is jointly funded by road safety teams from the eastern region and the Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership.

The prize – for the winners and their chosen guest - is an action packed day at Silverstone, home to the British Grand Prix, in October of this year. The day will comprise a Grand Prix style go kart racing tournament, an off road session in a 4 x 4 vehicle, and a ‘skids and skills’ trial on a challenging slalom course. There are 14 prizes on offer for two people.

The competition is part of the For my girlfriend road safety campaign, which reminds young drivers of the potentially tragic consequences of driving too fast – by facing young male drivers with the appalling prospect of killing their girlfriend while she is a passenger in their car.

To enter, young drivers between the age of 18 – 25 years must log onto the For my girlfriend campaign website, www.fmg.org.uk, and answer a series of multiple choice questions. The website contains a host of road safety information and other material that a young driver will find useful, including advice on insurance, vehicle maintenance and personal safety while driving. The competition answers can be found on the website and contestants are directed to the relevant sections to help them in their search.

"Getting younger drivers to take road safety on board is notoriously difficult," says Sally Bartrum, competition organiser. "We hope that by attracting younger drivers to the website to enter the competition, that they will pick up safety information while trawling through the site for the competition answers. The prize is designed to appeal to young drivers who might be attracted by speed – the very people we need to get the message across too."

To be eligible contestants must have held a full driving licence for one year and be under the age of 25 years as of 20 September 2004. The competition runs from 1 June to 20 September 2004.

For my girlfriend is a regional publicity campaign that was developed by eastern region road safety teams in 2002. Since then the campaign has been adopted by the Thames Valley Safer Roads Group, the Lancashire Casualty Reduction Partnership, the London Safety Camera Partnership and Somerset County Council.

For further information visit the campaign website, www.fmg.org.uk, or contact Sally Bartrum, sbartrum@stennik.com, 01379 650112.