With the success of receiving funding through the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) in 2014, Bournemouth Borough Council’s road safety team identified a need to reduce the number of young people aged 17 to 25, killed or seriously injured on Bournemouth’s roads - as this group at the time accounted for 26% of accidents in Bournemouth, but for only 12% of all drivers.

The road safety team designed a scheme following some of the principles of Graduated Driver Learning (GDL), which has been proven to be effective in other countries. The GDL system can reduce crash rates among teenage drivers by up to 40%, by allowing young drivers to gain more knowledge and driving experience in stages.  LifeDrive was created and launched - and being an incentivised scheme has made it more attractive to the target group.

Claire Heaton, Senior Road Safety Officer, BCP Council (previously known as Bournemouth Borough Council)
Claire Heaton has worked in the road safety education team for 17 years, originally managing the School Crossing Patrol Service and Cycle Training Scheme before being promoted to line manage both services including the STEPs Training Scheme, originally known as Kerbcraft.

Claire also works in partnership with the Dorset Road Safe Partners - consisting of Dorset Police, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service and Dorset Council - arranging and coordinating road safety education initiatives and media campaigns across the area.