West Sussex Fire and Rescue will be showing its Safe Drive production to students from Chichester College, Chichester High School for Girls, Bishop Luffa, Midhurst Grammar and Seaford College at Chichester Festival Theatre on Tuesday.

The show consists of a graphic, hard-hitting new film, using cast from the Chichester Festival Youth Theatre combined with intensely-personal recollections from members of the emergency services as well as accident victims.

To watch the video click here.

A firefighter remembers holding the hand of a young girl, talking to help keep her alive after a road traffic collision, only to be told on his return to the Chichester station she had died in St Richard's A&E.
A staff nurse remembers having to tell the mother of a young boy he would never walk or use his arms again.

It delivers a strong message on the horrors and tragedy of fatal car crashes involving young people – and it has to.

Statistics show one in five newly-qualified drivers will have a crash within 12 months of passing their test.

From questionnaires received back from students who have already seen Safe Drive, 25 per cent reported being involved in an accident as a passenger.

In 2006 alone, 16 fatal accidents in West Sussex involved young drivers.
Head of community fire and rescue services for West Sussex Roger Wood stresses: "We really want to reach young people when they've just passed or are about to take their driving tests.

"They are surrounded by technology these days, they're very virtual and that's how they drive their cars.

"Safe Drive helps to make them realise the awful reality of road crashes and the devastation it causes families."

The new film was shot locally using locations such as Thursday's nightclub, Thicket Lane in Eartham and the A&E at St Richard's Hospital.
"It was important that it was local," says Roger. "We want the kids to identify with it and really think 'this could happen to me'.
"We want them to realise their lives are worth more than just a bunch of flowers at the side of a road."