WITCHFORD Village College pupils learnt some stark lessons about road safety in a bid to save their lives. The Year 10 youngsters were given shocking accident statistics and shown photos of cars which had become crushed after crashing into walls and trees

WITCHFORD Village College pupils learnt some stark lessons about road safety in a bid to save their lives.

The Year 10 youngsters were given shocking accident statistics and shown photos of cars which had become crushed after crashing into walls and trees.

They were also shown the equipment that fire-fighters use to cut injured people out of their vehicles.

The multi-agency event was organised by Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue and involved Cambridgeshire Police, Drinksense, the East Anglian Air Ambulance and Cambridgeshire County Council's road safety team.

Now in its second year, it aims to make the next generation of young drivers more safety conscious by teaching them about the consequences of speed, drink, drugs and driving dangerously.

Julie Sandbrook, East Cambridgeshire's community fire safety officer, who set up the event, said: "East Cambs is notorious for its road traffic collisions, many of which are very serious and require fire service involvement because of the nature of our rural roads. Unfortunately young people are very often the victims."

About 200 pupils attended the event in the college sports hall and visited six safety zones to learn a different aspect of road safety.

Pupils were given the chance to drive in a racing car simulator and then given a pair of "beer goggles" to demonstrate the effects of alcohol on drivers.

They were taught basic first aid and given an interactive quiz to choose the right and wrong actions of a driver.

Honor Freeman, 15, who took part in the event, said: "I didn't realise how quickly a serious accident can happen. If I were in a car with someone who was driving too quickly or not paying attention, I would say something. It's not worth the risk."

Paul Dewey, 14, said: "I found it really shocking to find out just how many people are killed when they are hit by a speeding car doing 30mph. I thought that was a relatively safe speed.