A SCHEME to reduce the number of young people killed on North Yorkshire’s roads has been launched.

95 Alive, the York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership has begun the Honest Truth programme to help young drivers identify and eliminate bad driving traits from the day they start learning to drive.

The scheme, delivered by trained Approved Driving Instructors (ADIs), is aimed at 17-24-year-olds and uses animal and human hybrid characters to demonstrate various negative behaviours shown by drivers or passengers.

Instructors will use the animal comparisons to deliver key messages to help youngsters say safe on the roads and hopefully reduce the number of young people killed in accidents.

North Yorkshire County Councillor Don Mackenzie, Executive member for Road Safety, said: “The rural nature of North Yorkshire means there is a greater need for young people to drive and they tend to drive longer distances on rural roads than young drivers in other parts of the country.

“We know that young people want to become good drivers and travel and get home safely. We are working with their instructors to help them to do so from their very first driving lesson.”

In North Yorkshire an average of 80 young people are killed or seriously injured each year and figures from 2009-2013 show that 21 per cent of people killed or seriously injured across the county were aged between 16-24.

Tim Madgwick, Deputy Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police and chair of 95 Alive said: “Because of the time instructors spend with young people in tuition and the relationships they build, we are helping them make a real difference by providing teaching resources and key messages.”