CEMEX was proud to support the Safe Drive Stay Alive (SDSA) event, which took place at Rugby School to an audience of 400 students in years 12 and 13. The initiative is supported by Rugby and Bulkington MP, Mark Pawsey, and County Councillor, Yousef Dahmash.
SDSA is a professional stage show that has been running in the UK since 2000 and was introduced to Rugby School in 2017.The objective of this road safety initiative is to show young people why, as young drivers, they, and their passengers, are so vulnerable in their early years on the road and what they can do to reduce this vulnerability.
Young qualified drivers make up 7% of the total driving population but, disproportionately, are involved in 24% of all serious and fatal crashes. One in six young drivers will become involved in a crash within their first two years of driving. This is of great concern to the local authorities, emergency services and most certainly to parents of young drivers and vulnerable road users. To this end, CEMEX SDSA Warwickshire is designed to address these issues.
SDSA is fast paced, balancing educational content with real life evidence, factually presented, holding the audience’s attention throughout. It uses testimonies from officers in the emergency services about their real experiences in dealing with the aftermath of serious road crashes; from crash survivors and the bereaved. It also covers Safer and Healthy Mobility, a new section on other forms of transportation used by young people.
As part of the event, a video featuring Julie Welch, Health and Safety Manager, was shown. In the video, Julie talks about the importance of driving safely, CEMEX’s road safety work and her experiences. You can view this video here.
This year’s event was organised by Rugby resident, George Atkinson, a road safety campaigner since his daughter was killed as a pedestrian in London in 1998. George would like to thank CEMEX for their sponsorship and Rugby School for allowing their students to witness this life saving road safety show.
Chiedza Mupfumira, Social Impact Specialist, who attended the event (pictured fifth from the left), said: “CEMEX is committed to protecting the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable road users and we feel very honoured to sponsor this year’s Safe Drive Stay Alive event, an impactful and important show that could help to save lives. We recognise the vulnerability of new and young drivers and we hope that this programme will go a long way in influencing the behaviours which can lead to a generation of risk averse drivers.”