THOUSANDS of young people from across central Scotland will attend the tenth annual Safe Drive Stay Alive roadshow in Stirling this week.

On Monday afternoon, at the Macrobert Arts Centre, hundreds of pupils from Lornshill Academy took in the show and its vital caution about careless and inattentive driving among young people.

Those from Alva and Alloa academies will follow later in the week – in what could be the last year the Central Safe Drive are able to organise the programme.

Funding pressures mean the project is unlikely to go ahead in 2018; however, the Alloa Advertiser recently launched a campaign in the hopes of encouraging local councils to contribute to the costs.

The youngsters that experience the show are taken on a "rollercoaster" ride through a serious road traffic incident and how all the various emergency workers respond to the situation.

After being pumped up by Capital City FM DJ Brad Yule, they were then "hit" with the powerful Safe Drive message from the volunteers.

Emergency specialists from Police Scotland, the Scottish Ambulance Service, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) and the NHS all give up their time to engage with the young audience.

However, a number of bereaved family members also deliver a poignant tribute to their lost loved ones, in an attempt to warn young people about the risk of dangerous behaviour while in a car.

Alan Faulds, of the SFRS, is one of the organisers behind the show and said the format was designed specifically to reach out to the younger audience.

He said: "When we first started, we had a psychologist sit down with us in the planning and we asked how we could make sure the that people remember this long term.

"And he said that if we get a young person and make them naturally high, then it opens up something in their head and it realises endorphins and things like that.

"If you sit them down and give them a hard-hitting message then, as it all starts to close down again, it traps the message in so they remember it for longer.

"And that's the experiences we have had because people do remember it."

Alan added: "So we start with a disco and Brad's here with us free of charge – he does it off his own back because he believes in it.

"He goes on stage and we get the kids up on their feet and up on stage dancing and then we sit them down and hit them with the show.

"You can see them going in; they're happy and nothing is a problem for them, but when they come out you will barely get a word out of them. They'll be dumbstruck."

Indeed, the hundreds inside the theatre began the afternoon in fairly high spirits, but appeared a crowd transformed when leaving.

Many became emotional after hearing first-hand the harrowing consequences of carelessness behind the wheel.

Almost 4,000 people will view the show this week alone, meaning around 40,000 have heard the Safe Drive message since it first launched in 2017.

However, as the Advertiser has previously reported, the future of Safe Drive Stay Alive remains in doubt due to funding restrictions.

The group are likely to receive no money from local or central government and will not be able to raise the £23,000 needed themselves.

At present, the shows are only able to go ahead at present with the dedicated volunteers applying for dozens of grants all year.

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