Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Ellon pupils to get tough road safety message

Alan Brown, of DAB Plus Driver Training
Alan Brown, of DAB Plus Driver Training

A retired police inspector will bring home the road safety message to pupils at Ellon Academy this week.

Alan Brown spent many years in the police’s road safety unit, and is now putting his experience to use in his new role as training development manager for DAB Plus Driver Training at Maud.

The social enterprise delivers training and road safety education in the north-east, and this week will launch the DAB Plus Driving Ambition programme.

The award-winning scheme was offered to sixth year pupils at schools throughout Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen and Moray but has been sidelined since Police Scotland came into force.

Now Mr Brown – who was an inspector in Fraserburgh before retiring last year with 30 years of service under his belt – is hoping to reintroduce it locally, and will begin with sessions in Ellon on Wednesday and Thursday.

He said: “It’s very much geared towards road safety and getting the safe driving message across to young drivers. There will be a mix of people who have passed their test, some who are having lessons, and others who have not yet applied for their licence. They are all going to be the drivers of the future, so we need to do something to get that safe driving message across to them.”

At the start of the day, pupils will be shown a hard-hitting DVD highlighting the consequences of being distracted behind the wheel – from sending the text message, crashing the car, losing a friend and then ending up in court.

They will then be split into four groups, which will rotate between the various activities on offer, including emergency first aid and basic vehicle maintenance.

Pupils will also be given advice about buying a car, and be taken out by a driving instructor for either tips or, for those yet to start lessons, an insight into what it is like in the drivers’ seat.

DAB Plus will also be letting the young drivers test their reaction skills, with a brake reactor test. They will also have a set of beer googles, which will give the youngsters an insight into the hazards of drink-driving.

Mr Brown said: “I’ve attended the crashes, and had to break the news to the next of kin. I’ve seen the mess and mayhem that can follow these crashes.

“Driving is a skill for life and we need to get the message across that young drivers need to keep themselves alive and safe.”