DrivingHub has been recognised for its work providing practical advice for novice drivers.
The DrivingHub website was created to increase the knowledge and confidence of learner and novice drivers, by providing free road safety resources such as vehicle check guidance. This month, the initiative won the FirstCar Young Driver Road User Safety Award for Partnership of the Year. The awards recognise projects that have improved young driver behaviour.
The Partnership of the Year category acknowledges initiatives that incorporate a wider community involvement.
The site was developed by DIA in partnership with professionals in road safety from the Department for Transport, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, the driver instructor industry and IPSOS MORI.
In their feedback on the initiative, the award judges commented that DrivingHub was: “A cleverly constructed outreach programme with solid research behind this intervention.’’
Samantha Jackson, assistant programme manager from Highways England (strategic safety team in road user safety), said: “I am delighted that DrivingHub has been awarded a winner in the FirstCar Young Driver Road Safety Awards for the ‘Partnership Scheme of the Year’ category.
“We carried out a lot of research to better understand the needs of this group of drivers, especially with the change in legislation allowing learners to take driving lessons on motorways. By consulting with driving instructors and hosting focus groups with instructors and learners, we were able to explore and test attitudes to road safety. This helped shape the themes and content for DrivingHub. DrivingHub was a joint collaboration with all our partners and we are proud to receive this award for our work to support new and learner drivers.”
The site features free resources for driving teachers and parents/guardians as well as for learners – along with five key courses:
- Driver, vehicle and journey
- Driving on rural roads, single and dual carriageways and motorways
- Awareness and driving conditions
- Other road users
- Managing breakdowns and incidents
Since June 2018 when DrivingHub was launched and when learner drivers were legally allowed onto motorways with an approved driving instructor in a dual control car, 12,000 courses have been undertaken and DrivingHub has received 27,000 unique visits. 2018 data shows the number of collisions involving young drivers has reduced by 27% from 2016 figures. This is further evidenced by there being no recorded injury collision involving learners on the motorway to date.
DrivingHub will be reinvented later this year with a fresh look and new areas for users including riders, new parents and driving for work. There will be new material created to engage new users and keep existing users returning to the site for key information and messages including; smart motorways, your wellbeing while driving and fatigue.