JET is backing National Road Safety Week (6-12 November) by helping to raise awareness about life-saving safedriving messages among its customers.

Road Safety Week is coordinated by national road safety charity Brake, with the support of headline sponsors ASDA, Direct Line and Green Flag Motoring Assistance, as well as blue chip companies like JET.

This year the event aims to draw attention to the shocking numbers of young people killed and seriously injured on our roads. Road crashes are the biggest killer of 15-24 year-olds. One in eight car licence holders are aged under 25, yet one in three (33%) drivers who die on UK roads are under 25 (up from 29% in 2004).

JET will be distributing 100,000 FREE tyre tread indicators to customers throughout the week at selected JET filling stations.

Checking your tyre tread can save lives – having insufficient tread on your tyres significantly increases braking distances, meaning you may not be able to react in time to unexpected hazards. Less than 1.5mm tread is illegal, but less than 3mm is dangerous in wet or icy weather. The tyre tread indicators being distributed at JET stations therefore show you if you have less than 3mm tread depth and are a handy credit-card size.

The tyre tread indicators additionally include information on Brake’s Pledge to Drive Safely – a simple 12 point plan that all drivers can follow to be safer behind the wheel. The Pledge asks drivers to commit to safe driving rules such as ‘belt up’, ‘sober up’ and ‘slow down’. Brake and JET are calling on drivers to make the Pledge online during Road Safety Week by going to http://www.roadsafetyweek.org/ and clicking on ‘pledge to drive safely’.

Janet Messenger, Brand Co-ordinator at JET, says: “We are proud to support Brake and Road Safety Week. We hope that by distributing these awareness-raising resources to customers we are able to make a difference and save lives on our roads.”

Jools Townsend, head of education at Brake, says: “Every week, more families and communities suffer tragic deaths and injuries caused by drivers who decide to take risks on our roads. Yet road deaths and injuries are preventable – through drivers taking more responsibility for their actions, and through a combined effort by families, communities and our Government to make our roads safer for everyone. We’re calling on all drivers – young and old - to make a pledge to drive safely. That means committing to staying within speed limits, never driving on drink or drugs and always belting up. Remember that breaking these rules all too often has life-shattering consequences.”

Thousands of companies, schools and community groups are getting involved in the Week by working to raise awareness in their local area. Information on getting involved can be found at www.roadsafetyweek.org.

Brake is calling on the Government to take action to tackle road death and injury involving young people. Brake wants:

- Compulsory road safety education in schools for all ages, so that young people develop an understanding of the risks of the road by the time they leave school and learn to drive.

- Year-round prime-time TV advertising aimed at young people on key safe driving topics such as speeding, drink and drug driving and seat belt use.

- More investment in dedicated traffic police and enforcement technology, such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras, designed to catch unlicensed and uninsured drivers.

- A system of graduated driver licensing (GDL), so there is a minimum period of learning to drive, followed by a provisional licence period where newly-qualified drivers have restrictions placed upon them, such as night-time driving curfews and limits on numbers of passengers.

The facts about young drivers and passengers:

Road crashes are the biggest killer of 15-24 year-olds.

One in eight car licence holders are aged under 25, yet one in three (33%) drivers who die on UK roads are under 25 (up from 29% in 2004).

One in four (26%) convictions for causing death by dangerous driving are against under-21s.

The Government set a target of reducing road deaths and serious injuries in Britain by 40% by 2010, compared to the average for 1994-98. It did not set any specific target for reducing young driver and passenger casualties or fatal and serious injury crashes involving young drivers.

For more information on Road Safety Week and young driver safety, go to http://www.roadsafetyweek.org/

For media enquiries, interviews with Brake or regional casualty statistics, call Matthew Henderson or Dianne Ferreira on 01484 559909 or 07976 069159.