Road safety: RHA member plays critical role in young drivers event

Pictured above,  AM chairman Grahame Ottewell (left) with Hawkins Logistics training manager Jon Newbold.

RHA member Hawkins Logistics has played a critical role in an IAM Roadsmart event this week to promote good safety practices to young drivers.

The Lichfield branch of the charity has put on a young drivers event to highlight the dangers of the road and promote good practice on road safety. The event is aimed at those aged 14-24 to offer the opportunity to get behind the wheel away from public roads – and get guidance from the team’s national and local observers.

One of the features of the event is a truck kindly provided by RHA member and UK warehouse and distribution firm Hawkins Logistics, a Lichfield-based firm with sites at Fradley Park, Rugeley, and elsewhere.

View

The truck was donated so young drivers could sit in the cab and see the limited view that truck drivers have when viewing other vehicles around them using only mirrors.

Although the modern Hawkins fleet is also equipped with extra cameras and sensors, the charity will explain that advanced drivers should assume the drivers of lorries we share the road with have very limited views – especially left-hand drive foreign vehicles.

Speaking about the event Hawkins Logistics training manager Jon Newbold (pictured right with LAM chairman Grahame Ottewell) said the company was keen to work with youth groups. One safety initiative project planned includes students taking a video course.

Community

Jon said: “We are very much community oriented. It’s very important to us as a company. We carry everything from a small box to a big load. We have even carried a Harrier Jump Jet!”

Lichfield Advanced Motorists said it was “delighted” to have created links with Hawkins Logistics and will be looking to develop more projects in the future.