The Sussex Newspaper - Great news for a great county!

Sarah Rowley and Emma Gardner from West Sussex are two mums on a mission.  Their aim: to protect young lives on our roads through better knowledge and education for young people and their parents.  

Supported by local MP’s and the Sussex Air Ambulance, they launched a campaign last May to get driving into schools and colleges across the county. With over 70 now participating, their work has been recognised with a Prince Michael of Kent International Road Safety Award.

The campaign provides free access to Drive iQ; state of the art, online brain-training for 16-18 year olds, together with; workshop plans to enable teachers to run tutorial sessions around the software and a guide for parents “Is your child learning to drive? Everything you will need and want to know”.

The hi-tech software is designed to aid maturation of the frontal lobe of the brain by using cutting-edge driver behaviour principles.  Novice drivers are guided through the e-learning module based course, which includes: eye scanning, distraction, hazard perception, being a responsible passenger and much more.

Drive iQ hones those skills that are often neglected by young drivers such as; anticipating danger, emotion and emotional responses, impulse, eye movement and assessing risk.

Drive iQ was developed in partnership with leading scientists and industry experts.   An independent evaluation of the software (for its use as part of the Thames Valley Police Young Driver Scheme) showed more than 60% of young drivers were significantly less likely to reoffend through better education and understanding.

Sarah Rowley, CEO of a2om CIC and founder of campaign explains, “Young people are the most vulnerable of road users and tragically hundreds die each year and thousands are seriously injured.  In West Sussex alone 27 lost their lives on local roads in 2010.  The vast majority of crashes are contributed to by poor attitude and behaviour, rather than lack of technical skill.

Drive iQ effects behavioural change by using coaching techniques that allow the novice drivers to work out for themselves what the answer is.  The benefits of coaching including a more engaged and motivated student with an increased capacity for learning and that all important recall when needed.”

The Rt Hon. Francis Maude MP for Horsham, lent his support to the campaign and said, “This modern approach is already popular with students.  It gives young people free and easy access to a learning programme that could save their life and the life of a friend or road-user.  I am confident that online training forms a vital part of the safety training process.”

One of the first adopters of the Drive iQ scheme was Chichester College.  Lisa Humphries, Student Experience Manager at Chichester College said” Drive iQ is a great initiative that has supported our students to develop skills that will keep them safe and last them a lifetime.  It is fantastic to have something so well developed to support the work that other organisations, such as the emergency services are doing.”

If you would like free access to Drive iQ go to www.driveiq.co.uk and follow instructions.  To get a free download of the parent guide go to www.a2omcic.org.  If you are a teacher and would like your school to have free access to our programme please email Sarah Rowley at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The a2om CIC is now launching Drive iQ into Hampshire, Buckinghamshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Dorset and areas of Greater Manchester and North Yorkshire.