Two north road safety teams receive massive boost from boy band

5th March 2013

'Don't You Forget About Me' (DYFAM), a Support Group for victims of road collisions established by June Ross after losing her 22 year old son Ian, a passenger in a car involved in such a collision, and 'Sensible Driving - Always Arriving,' a road safety campaign group run by the North Of Scotland Driver Awareness Team (NOSDAT). This was set up by Highlands MSP David Stewart after the death of two local teenagers in a road collision in Inverness, have both received a huge boost from the boy band 'Scouting for Girls'.

Roy Stride of the band said, " We heard about the work of both these groups in trying to educate new and young drivers in the North and North East of Scotland and have had sight of some of their work. It is a credit to all involved that despite personal tragedies, they have come together to try and prevent further deaths or serious injuries on Scotlands roads. The material that they have produced is really first class".

June Ross said, " To get the recognition of a group such as Scouting For Girls is a great boost to all involved in our support group. We have worked tirelessly to educate new and young drivers and at the same time have formed DYFAM (Don't You Forget About Me), to support other families who have been left devastated by the loss of a loved one in a road collision.

This is a serious issue and more needs to be done to address it. In particular I am thinking about the efforts of the campaign group 'Sensible Driving - Always Arriving' in Inverness, who are trying to get legislation pushed through which will see a form of graduated licence introduced".

Highland MSP David Stewart said, "There are a lot of well meaning groups out there who are doing what they can to make our roads safer. Our own group has campaigned tirelessly for three years now to persuade the Government to introduce a graduated licence scheme, which in effect is a form of restricted driving by young and new drivers. We can prove that up to 22 lives could be saved and £80million in cash could be saved to the Scottish economy every year, if such a scheme were introduced. To learn that Scouting for girls have recognised our efforts as a group and that of DYFAM is fantastic".