YOUNG road users are the focus of activities taking place this week to raise awareness about the dangers of careless driving.

Yesterday, road safety charity Brake released figures showing that in 2013 more than 2,200 drivers in Swindon were given fixed penalty notices for speeding or driving carelessly.

Over the past few months, Wiltshire Fire and Rescue has been running its Safe Drive Stay Alive presentation in schools around the town and surrounding area.

The hard-hitting presentation is run in conjunction with the police, council and SWIFT Medics and involves talks from people from the emergency services, as well as relations of victims, who have been at the scene of a crash.

The week is National Road Safety Week and on Thursday the presentation will be seen by youngsters at New College, where the message will be that young people are not invincible when they get behind the wheel for the first time.

Ian Hopkins, road safety development manager at Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service, said: “The importance of talking to young people is to make them understand their responsibilities when they become drivers.

“As soon as they start learning to drive they take on this responsibility which has to be taken very seriously.

“If they start speeding and kill someone then it is on them and they have to deal with the consequences of that.

“This Safe Drive Stay Alive campaign is to make them aware of this. We have victims of road accidents so the young people get an idea of the impact they have on other people’s lives, as well as their own.”

The figures released by Brake showed that in the South West a fixed penalty notice was issued in the region every seven minutes.

Swindon North MP Justin Tomlinson has campaigned for action to be taken on the rules regarding young drivers passing their test, such as graduated licensing.

“I am working with Brake, particularly with regards to the safety of young drivers both before they pass their test and in the period after. In the first 12 months of driving, one in five drivers will have an accident.

“The figures out yesterday are a big worry. On the one hand you can see this is being well policed which is why we are seeing so many fines being given.

“But I think the long-term solution is better driver training and education when drivers first pass their test. That is what I am working to do in parliament and will continue to do so.”