Make your own decisions

Throughout the Young Driver of the Year campaign, three professional drivers will take turns in the driver’s seat to offer specialist advice on subjects Grampian Police consider to be major contributors to road traffic collisions. This week, Sergeant Neil Morrison explores the pitfalls of peer pressure

Published:

YOU have successfully passed your driving test, got a new set of wheels and are looking forward to a life on the open road. Your friends are equally excited at the prospect of being chauffeured around the countryside. Life is great, and so it should be – freedom, mobility and independence.

However, with this newfound freedom and independence comes a huge amount of responsibility. If you are a new or inexperienced driver, you must be honest enough with yourself to realise that you are not the final package when it comes to being a driver. You can only gain this life skill with many careful hours behind the wheel.

Adopting the right attitude towards your driving, as well as understanding the weaknesses displayed by others on the road, will stand you in good stead.

Peer pressure is something we all face in life. It can be very easy to have your actions swayed by those around you, and extremely difficult to say no.

No one wants to be seen as being weak in the eyes of their mates, but when it comes to driving, it is something you cannot afford to get wrong.

Allowing yourself to be egged on to drive at inappropriate or excessive speed, or talked into not wearing your seatbelt because it’s uncool, can have disastrous consequences.

Always remember, it is far less cool to be killed, seriously injured or banned from driving because you didn’t have the bottle to make your own decisions.

Only you, the driver, have the power to drive safely – make sure you make the right decision.