Safer Motoring

Why is driver education necessary?

Nationally, each year, excessive and inappropriate speed kills around 1,200 people and injures 100,000.

Speed is a contributory factor in about one-third of all road accidents.

In 2007 there were nearly 770 people killed or injured in cars Stoke-on-Trent.

Cutting the number of deaths and injuries that happen every day on our roads is a responsibility we all share.

What are we doing about it?

A number of road safety interventions are carried out in Stoke-on-Trent to combat speeding drivers.

Speed Awareness Programmes

We are involved in a number of Speed Management partnerships, services and actions. For further information follow this link to access our speed awareness webpage

Pre-driver Education in Schools

We conduct driver education and training programmes in city schools as part of a multi-agency team involving the emergency services.

Crash Course and Crash Investigation Project

These courses cover a number of issues such as:

• attitudes towards safer driving, speed, seatbelts and drink driving;
• recognising danger; and 
• crashes and consequences.

We also offer driver simulator workshops in schools and colleges. These are conducted annually by a national driver training school. These workshops provide a good grounding before practical tuition.

Learning to Drive

As a learner driver you must meet the following requirements. You must:

• be at least 17 years old;
• hold a provisional driving licence (by completing a D1 form which you can obtain from your Post Office);
• make sure you have adequate insurance cover;
• meet the minimum legal eyesight requirements (if you need glasses to read a car number plate at the required distance, you must wear them when you drive); and 
• only drive when supervised and when the car displays 'L' plates.

The best way to learn how to drive is with a professional driving instructor, backed up with plenty of practice. When learning to drive with family or friends, the supervising driver must:

• be at least 21 years old;
• hold a full driving licence for the type of car they are driving in (automatic or manual);
• make sure that adequate insurance cover exists for the vehicle to include the learner driver;
• make sure the car is safe and legal to drive;
• meet the legal eyesight requirements (see above); and 
• make sure 'L' plates are displayed on the front and rear of the car.

New/Young Drivers

Newly qualified and young  drivers with limited experience have a poorer safety record than older, more experienced drivers.

For more information, follow this link to access our New/Young drivers webpage

Older Drivers

For more information, follow this link to access our Older Drivers webpage

Contact us

For more advice on safer motoring telephone 01782 232066 or email transportation@stoke.gov.uk.