The Honest Truth is a multi-agency partnership that was set up following a tragic collision that claimed the lives of three young people.
The vision of The Honest Truth is simple;
“To reduce anti-social driving and the number of 17 to 24 year olds killed or seriously injured on the roads.”
To achieve this, a suite of resources has been developed using animal-human hybrids to represent certain negative driver or passenger behaviours combined with fresh messages that are more memorable to young people. The campaign is built around eight key messages of drink, drugs, speed, mobile phones, seatbelts, distractions, showing off and tiredness. The resources are provided free to Approved Driving Instructors to deliver during a course of driving lessons, providing the next generation of drivers not only the mechanical skills they need to drive a car, but also the life skills to make the right decision as either a driver or a passenger. The campaign is designed to challenge the attitudes and behaviours of road users and encourage them to make one small change to their driving behaviour using the strap line ‘small changes save lives’.
The project had an initial aim of working with 25 driving instructors in South Devon and is currently working with just under 1500 across all areas of the United Kingdom. The project also has an extensive website as well as a strong social media presence on both Facebook and Twitter.
The Honest Truth team won two awards at the 2015 Young Driver Focus Conference. A gold award for, ‘Partnership Scheme of the year’ and a bronze award for, ‘Young driver campaign of the year’.
For more information contact, David Clark, Driver Training Officer, North Yorkshire County Council.
Tel: 01609 797479, 07581 621810 or email david.clark@northyorks.gov.uk