Last week I was delighted to join Nick Chard, Chairman of the Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority, in officially opening the Kent Fire and Rescue Service’s (KFRS) new state-of-the art, road safety education centre, known as the Road Safety Experience and Rochester fire station.
As well as being a fire station, the building is a base for our North Kent group office and offers a base for ambulances from our partners at South East Coast Ambulance Service. This makes it the perfect location to help teach young and potential road users the risks and safe use of our roads.
The Road Safety Experience is the first purpose built, facility of its kind in the UK. It uses powerful stories, exciting interactive experiences and information from experienced road safety experts. It aims to help young people learn from the experience of others, improve their safety and give them the skills they need to make better informed decisions in all driver and passenger situations. The centre will be operated by staff from KFRS as well as other agencies including Kent Police and the Highways England.
It is saddening to have learned that over 177 young people aged 16-24 died on Kent’s roads since 2013. Such tragedy brings unprecedented heartbreak to families and friends whose grief comes for the unnecessary loss of loved ones’ lives long before their time.
It is therefore essential that we dedicate and increase road safety education across Kent and the wider country to help keep young aware of the risks and therefore help keep them safe. As a road user myself, I can understand the excitement of owning and driving one’s first car, but it is so important that responsibility and the many risks of the road are remembered. I am therefore thrilled to welcome the UK’s first truly innovative experience for the young road users, with special thanks to the collaborative work of Kent Police, Kent County Council, Medway Council and the Highways England.
The new centre will provide education visits for up to 95 young people a day and is free to all schools, colleges and groups in Kent and Medway, so I hope as many of them as possible make use of this fantastic new service. There is additional educational content that can be used before or after the students come for their experience, which will be particularly useful for those whose driving tests are around the corner.
The Road Safety Experience is based alongside KFRS’s new Rochester fire station on land at the former park and ride site near Rochester Airport in Marconi Way.