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Update October 2011

A lot has happened these past few months. We have made contact with the group SCID who are a voluntary body of people who support victims of serious/fatal road collisions in Court proceedings or in preparation for Court.

We have also made contact with a group in Aberdeenshire called ‘DFAM – Don’t Forget About Me’. This group was set up by a mother who also lost her young son in a fatal road collision. This particular group provide support to the families who have lost loved ones as a result of fatal road collisions.

Last month I wrote to Nikki King, Chief Executive of Isuzi Trucks – She appeared on the TV programme ‘Undercover Boss’. She was very interested in our work and verbally endorsed our efforts.

I had also written to Goodyear and Michelin Tyres to establish if they would support us, but alas I am still awaiting a reply.

I also made contact with the Chairs of the Highland Youth Forums looking for volunteers to help us, but again so far no-one has come forward.

The important piece of work that we have now nearly completed is the commissioning of a film relating to this whole issue. The Producer – Tom Duncan of ‘All The Rage’ Productions has been filming these past few weeks and we are looking at viewing a draft rough cut of the film this coming Friday.

Also last month we managed to secure a debate in the Scottish Parliament on the graduated Licence Scheme. David Stewart MSP was the ‘Lead’ in this debate and spoke for eight minutes on the topic highlighting much of the work of Dr Sarah Jones of Cardiff University. At the conclusion of the debate the Scottish Government promised to keep lobbying the UK Government in order to allow a pilot of the scheme to be introduced in Scotland.

Finally, I have approached a local multi franchise car dealer in the hope that they may support our efforts to stage a one day seminar on this issue in Inverness in the next couple of months. We are looking at a package with a local hotel and would like to invite about 30 well placed and appropriate individuals and organisations to the event which will also allow us to plan for the future.

Well that is the latest update. We are always looking for new supporters and sponsors, so if you want to come on board our bus, please get in touch.

Since the 5^th. May 2011, we have met with the new Chief Constable of Northern Constabulary George Graham who has indicated that he will be very supportive of our campaign.

We have received sponsorship from a local taxi firm (Inverness Taxis) which allows us to have our graphics on the rear of 3000 of their business cards.

We have placed another motion asking for the introduction of a Graduated Licence Scheme before the Parliament.

We have written to local companies seeking more sponsorship.

I have also spoken to the local radio station – MFR – to see what they can do to help us.

Finally, we have made contact with a group in the Central belt of Scotland ( S.C.I.D.) who support victims of road crashes.(website link)

I am hopeful that we can start working with them.

Drive IQ-Pro the company in Surrey who met with us and had introduced a new scheme to take over from Pass Plus have come back on to us to say they have devised a new product which allows the Employer to train staff engaged in driving duties to enhance their current skills.
 

Earlier this year David Stewart MSP was contacted by a constituent who asked him to do whatever he could to stop the carnage on Highland roads following the death of two teenagers,Callum Matheson (17) and Ahlee Jackson (17) in a Fatal Road Collision on Island Bank Road,Inverness, during March 2010.

The car involved, a Skoda Fabia vRS 2.0, was driven by Ahlee who was only a provisional Licence holder and was found to be over the drink drive limit.

Discussions were held between David and his Office Manager (Doug Mackenzie) and it was decided to launch a campaign to do whatever could be done to make a positive contribution to this issue.

A press release was put out detailing David’s intention and on the back of this press release Diane Matheson, the mother of the fatally injured teenage passenger of the collision referred to, asked if she could come on board and work with David.

At this time about eight other local persons with an interest in this matter also wanted to come on board and as a result a meeting was held at Inshes Parish Church hall on Friday 20 August 2010 to discuss this topic.

In the lead up to this meeting there was a large amount of press and media exposure.

It was learned of an initiative in Wales called ‘Deadly Mates’ which warns young drivers that their passengers are their responsibility. This initiative was borne out of the death of Kyle Smith five years ago in Cardiff, having just got into a vehicle which later crashed and killed him. He had just left a McDonald’s Restaurant. The Deadly Mates leaflet was distributed through McDonald’s Restaurants in Wales.

What were the outcomes of the Team meeting?

We decided to pursue the following:

Mandatory display of 'P' plate for 90 days after successful completion of test

A graduated Licence scheme incorporating night driving, motorway driving, driver observation etc. The driving test to be in three stages: Initial, Intermediate and final. In the Intermediate stage the driver could drive unsupervised between 6am and 10pm each day only, he/she could not carry any passengers under 25 years of age and they could not drive a car with an engine size larger than 1400cc.

Initiatives with Insurance companies like their tracker device which restricts the use of a car between certain times

PF/Police referrals to approved driving schemes

Deadly Mates initiative - Leaflets detailing the Deadly Mates message which can be distributed throughout the Highlands and Islands as detailed hereafter.

Outcome

We decided to tackle this initiative in two phases;

Educational

Political – Graduated Licence Scheme Introduction

With regards to the Educational the following is an update of our work to 1 November 2010:

Stagecoach Bus has agreed to display the poster internally in 180 of their local buses. There is no charge for this service if the advert supports local communities. They are also now considering displaying a large poster on the back (external) of a local bus. Normal charge for this would be between £5K and £10K.

The Eastgate Centre, Inverness has agreed to display six A2 posters within the Eastgate Centre. They cannot put a cost on this advertising, as they do not normally allow organisations out with the Centre to display posters within. A4 Design and Print, 50 Seafield Road, Inverness has agreed to provide the six A2 posters for display in the Eastgate Centre.

The Ink Shop, Post Office Avenue, Inverness printed 5000 leaflets for Diane Matheson and her family which they distributed at a recent Inverness Caley Thistle home football match ( 18 September 2010). During early November 2010 they agreed to print off another 5000 leaflets free of charge).Inverness Caledonian Thistle gave permission for Diane and her family to distribute these leaflets outside the ground on the above date.

McDonald’s Restaurants have agreed to distribute the leaflet through their Inverness outlet. They have yet to set a date for a meeting to discuss the distribution of leaflets from all their Scottish outlets.

‘LovetoLove’ nightclub, Castle Street, Inverness have agreed to display the posters within their nightclub free of charge. They do not normally permit external advertising within.

MacRae and Dick have agreed to livery up a Mazda Sports car in the Deadly Mates colours and logo and have given us permission to use it at forthcoming events.

Two local business men have sponsored 40 radio adverts relative to our campaign on the local Station - MFR

With regards to Political, listed below is a resume of our work to date:

David Stewart MSP has written to the Scottish Transport Minister, Stewart Stevenson on this issue and he has also written to the Westminster based Transport Secretary, Phillip Hammond. To date the responses have been positive.

David Stewart MSP has raised a motion in the Scottish Parliament and he has asked the Scottish Government a series of questions (PQs)on this issue.

Miscellaneous Activity

This campaign has received an unprecedented amount of media coverage which the Team are delighted with.

Dr Sarah Jones, Cardiff University has made contact. She and colleagues have researched the graduated licence scheme over 10 years and have statistical analysis which backs up our drive to have the graduated licence scheme introduced. This study has shown that if such a scheme were introduced up to 22 lives in Scotland could be saved and up to 1500 less injuries sustained by road users.

David Stewart has been invited to motoring organisations to give an input on this campaign. Amongst those attended was the Inverness Driving Instructors Association. Doug Mackenzie, has given an input to the Moray Driving Instructors Association.

The Team have decided on a name for their Group – NOSDAT – North of Scotland Driving Awareness Team and have appointed Sandy Grant of Sandy Grant Mortgage and Insurance Services as their elected Chair.

Discussions are ongoing with various other Groups and organisations with regards to this initiative to establish if they would like to work with us.