ORGANISERS of a crucial road safety initiative have made an impassioned plea for support to help keep their youth awareness shows running.

Since 2006, the Safe Drive, Stay Alive project has been helping to educate teenagers about the inherent dangers of dangerous or inattentive driving on the roads.

In that time, around 40,000 young people from Forth Valley have attended the specially-crafted events, which are said to have contributed to the reduction in the number of young people killed or seriously injured in road accidents in Clackmannanshire, Stirling and Falkirk.

Despite its success, the event, organised by the Central Safe Drive group, remains under threat due to ongoing funding issues.

With this in mind, the Alloa Advertiser has launched a campaign to safeguard the Safe Drive, Stay Alive programme and preserve its important messages for the next generation of drivers in Clackmannanshire.

Previously, all three central Scotland councils had funded the show, which costs around £23,000 a year, but have since had to make cuts to their contributions.

Firefighter Alan Faulds, from Central Safe Drive, is hoping businesses in the Forth Valley area will come forward to help support their efforts, and ensure the future of the programme for the community.

He said: "It's getting harder and harder to raise the money needed. We do it this way so that none of the schools have to pay anything to attend.

"It's so important and in all the time I've been doing this I've never had a complaint from a parent, because they know what we're trying to do.

"There has been so many people who have told us that cancelling the show would be a disgrace.

"But if we want the show to continue then we'll need to find money somewhere. But it can be difficult to persuade people to depart with their money at times.

"I understand councils are being stretched, but it's not a fortune – especially when you consider what we all get out of it."

Each year, the Central Safe Drive group invites fourth year pupils from every high school in the Wee County, at no cost to the schools or students.

From there they present to the young audience the harrowing reality of dangerous driving and the lasting impact it can have on people and communities.

Members of the emergency services give presentations, as do some of those who have had their lives completely turned upside down after being involved in road incidents.

According the group, in the nine years that Safe Drive Stay Alive has been running, road safety deaths in the 16-25 age group dropped from an average of 11 deaths in 2006-08, to a zero death count in 2014-15.

However, Mr Faulds added: "One of the arguments I get is that someone will ask me how many road deaths there was in the last year, to which I say none.

"They then ask why they should fund it, and I have to explain where we were before we started this up.

"That's what we're up against here. And if we do have to stop, and something awful happens or if the number of accidents begin to increase, I can guarantee that someone will ask if there was something we could have done to prevent it."