Road safety play drives home responsibilities

Jan 5 2009

Secondary school pupils from across South Lanarkshire have been learning about the responsibilities involved in becoming a driver and getting your first car.

A new road safety play, Friends Disunited, follows the lives of four friends, one of whom gets a new car for their birthday.

The car will be their passage into adulthood: they will be able to travel to gigs and concerts; away football games and anything else that takes their fancy.

However, it doesn't take long before the harmony of the group evaporates and the friendships begin to fragment, as the play culminates in a car crash that leaves their lives badly affected.

The play illustrates how the dreams and ambitions of young people can be utterly shattered by the inexperience and over-confidence of a young driver.

Councillor John Murray, the chair of the council's Road Safety Forum, said: "This was a wonderfully thought-provoking play which was very funny at times but contained a very serious message.

"The statistics concerning young people who have recently passed their tests and are involved in accidents is quite horrific - but through events like this the road safety message will get through.

"We have to engage our young people in a way they will find entertaining but still gets the road safety message across.

"The play did this brilliantly and I would like to thank the Baldy Bane Theatre Company for visiting our schools."