A young learner driver has won a new Volkswagen Polo after taking part in the Good Egg schools’ programme, a UK wide initiative designed to help young people become better and safer drivers.
17-year-old Connor McAteer from Cumbernauld was picked from more than 5,000 entrants in the Good Egg young drivers’ competition. He received the keys to the blue VW Polo when it arrived at Greenfaulds High School in front of teachers, fellow students and the Good Egg team.
The ‘Win A Car’ competition was open to young drivers aged 17-25 years and is part of a drive to raise awareness of road safety among young drivers and passengers.
Connor, who has his test booked for February 2016, said: “I can’t describe the feeling of winning this. People only dream of getting such an amazing prize. I thought it was a wind up!
“The (Good Egg) workshop was great – not just because I won a car – but because I learnt things I didn’t know about which will hopefully help me to pass my test and keep my licence once I get it.
“None of us knew about the different qualifications for driving instructors or that we are in such a high risk age group. I’d recommend Good Egg Drivers to any of my mates who are serious about learning to drive well.”
The car was donated by Arnold Clark and the keys were handed over by Scottish racing driver Christie Doran, an ambassador for the Good Egg programme.
Jan James, Good Egg CEO, added: “We are delighted that Connor has won this. His school has been especially supportive of this programme and his teachers really impressed us with the emphasis they put on student pastoral care alongside good academic performance. Both are equally important.
“Independent evaluation has underlined the effectiveness and importance of this programme in helping tackle the unacceptable high number of young driver and passenger casualties on UK roads.”
Paddy Adler, Greenfaulds High School, said: “Having carefully evaluated the Good Egg Driver programme with our S6 students, they have told us that it has really helped to raise their awareness of safe driving practices. A lot of the students felt it gave them the confidence to tell a driver to slow down if they felt they were driving too fast and be able to explain why they felt that way, which is really very encouraging to hear.”
I was lucky to sit in on one of these sessions and enjoyed the way students engaged with the important safety messages. As an ADI and Fleet trainer, it was good to see how pupils reacted more openly to the concept of road safety – a concept which might not be communicated as effectively in a one to one lesson scenario where learning to drive is the primary motivation. Having a racing driver close to their age group was a clever idea too which added depth to the presentation. All the best for the future.
Bruce Scott – Edinburgh
0