Maidenhead & Windsor

The Royal Windsor and Maidenhead Borough is once again supporting a nationwide campaign which urges young motorists to 'take responsibility when driving'.

The hard-hitting Windsor and Maidenhead message of this year's For My Girlfriend young driver campaign – designed to make young drivers aware of the potentially fatal consequences of driving too fast - is being spelled out on posters and mock Valentine's cards being distributed through schools, pubs and clubs in the run-up to Valentine's Day on February 14.

One mock Valentine card opens to reveal a photo of a girl in a body bag with the headline: 'The worst way for a relationship to end?' Another shows a team of firefighters and paramedics trying to free a girl from a crashed car with the headline: 'If you don't want to see this many blokes around your girl, take responsibility when driving'.

The award-winning campaign – now in its fifth year – is run jointly with other local authorities in the Thames Valley to help reduce road death and injury among young people.

Cllr Colin Rayner, lead member for Windsor and Maidenhead highways and transport, said: "It is particularly difficult to get road safety messages across successfully to young drivers, which is why the images in this campaign are so very striking – even shocking.

"But they are designed to have an impact – to make young motorists stop and think about the potentially terrible consequences of driving too fast, and to even help save lives.

"The romance associated with Valentine's Day is the perfect time to remind young male drivers to take special care of their female passengers. It's a fact that more young females aged 17 to 19 years old are killed or seriously injured while travelling as passengers in cars rather than as drivers. Please go carefully – it is a dangerous world out there. I have lost too many friends to road crashes.

"Research has also shown that the outcome young drivers dread most is killing or maiming someone they are close to who is travelling in the car with them – and the For My Girlfriend campaign forces young motorists to think about this awful prospect."

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead