Wednesday, July 21, 2010
By Susie Marshall
www.crawleyobserver.co.uk
Steve Lintott joined that Fire Service in 2004 and has more than enough hands on experience of car crashes in West Sussex.
Steve say that a large percentage of car crashes that he attends are 17-25 year olds some of whom have only just passed their tests. This categoryhas the smallest number of driviers on the road but has the largest amount of road accidents. Traditionally learners are trained to pass their test quickly but aren’t always made aware of the dangers and says that “many of the accidents that happen could so easily have been avoided”.
Steve feels so strongly about these young driver accident statistics that he also trained to be a driving instructor, but was horrified that learner drivers spend a lot of time practising manoeuvres that have little relevance to everyday driving and not enough is touched on the safety aspects of driving a car.
Steve thinks that the industry needs to revisit the way we train our future drivers as at the moment the emphasis is getting the student to pass their test. You can still pass your test with 16 minor faults - one of those may be forgetting to check your blind spot, where on the test nothing was coming but in the near future there could be a motorcyclist.
In January 2008, Steve decided to set up his own driving school “Stay Safe Driving School” with a lot more emphasis on realistic driving and road safety and with the supoort of the fire service, their main aim is to reduce road traffic collisions. Steve has a close working relationship with road safety campaigns such as ‘Safe Drive, Stay Alive’ that is aimed at 16-18 year olds and also ‘Hard Hit’ for those that are more at risk of having an accident.
Stay Safe Driving School is also able to provide refresher lessons for those that feel they want to drive more safely on today’s busy roads.
Steve personally selects his team of driving instructors and assesses each of their skills. They must have the right attitude and enthusiasm to help deliver the road safety message. Steve now has eight additional driving instructors and is always looking to expand to help get the message across. Steve’s instructors currently provide tuition throughout West Sussex and are proud of their 76% first time pass rate; the National average is 45%.
Stay Safe ensures that their students understand why they need to do things in a certain way and the possible consequences of any decisions they take, which in turn makes them safer on the roads.
Steve says “ultimately if I can save just one life by changing the way they think then it makes it all worthwhile!”.
