Double tragedy spurred me on to take course

Apr 25 2008 by Rebecca Edwards, Chester Chronicle

SEVEN years after I ripped up my L-plates it was tough to get back into the learner’s seat.

But, after five advanced driving sessions with the Institute of Advanced Motorists, I am now more careful, savvy and – I believe – safer on the roads.

My trigger for starting the course was reporting on the deaths of 16-year-old Christleton High School pupils Tristan Cook and Dominic Arnold in a crash on the A41, and the conviction of their schoolfriend Michael Wood for dangerous driving.

I spent last December writing about how the boys’ death affected a vast network of family and friends and then helped launch The Chronicle’s Too Young to Die campaign for reducing young deaths on the roads.

The horror of losing someone in such pointless circumstances haunted me well after the court case finished.

So when the Wirral and Chester IAM branch asked me take the course and write about the experience, I accepted.

I have had weekly, one-hour driving sessions with senior observer Norman Jarvis, a former Shell driver who has taken the advanced test in both a hatchback and an HGV and knows everything worth knowing about the roads.

After around eight sessions I will take an hour-and-a-half test driving round with a qualified police driver.

Norman, of Great Sutton, has helped me snap out of auto pilot, taking more care with the car instead of clumsily changing gear or yanking up the handbrake.

And most crucially I am more alert and prepared to react to hazards as they crop up on the roads.

Sign the Too Young to Die pledge at www.chesterchronicle.co.uk