Ford’s free novice driver training targets night hazards

Ford Australia has brought back its Driving Skills for Life program targeting younger drivers, with the free sessions booking out fast across the eastern seaboard.

This year’s program focuses on night driving and includes four hours of tuition for newly licenced, teen and learner drivers that Ford says goes beyond what they’d normally learn in conventional driver education programs.

Run by Driving Solutions, the program pairs the novice drivers with professional instructors, who focus on key issues and obstacles younger drivers face that tend to cause collisions at night.

These include hazard recognition, vehicle handling, speed management, spatial awareness and distracted and impaired driving.

Techniques covered in the program include emergency braking, steering and vision, cornering and parking.

A special ‘fatigue suit’ is also used to demonstrate the dangers of driving when sleep deprived.

Ford’s 2023 Driving Skills for Life (DSFL) program will be held in metro and regional areas in Victoria, NSW and Queensland, but the dates nominated for Melbourne (July 21) and Sydney (August 18) are already oversubscribed.

Would-be participants are still able to register their details and join a waiting list via the Ford DSFL section of the Driving Solutions website.

carsales has asked Ford whether more dates will be added, but we’re yet to receive a reply.

Places were also still available at the time of writing for the session in Lithgow in regional NSW on August 19, while Queensland dates and venues are still to be confirmed.

You can register for the Queensland program and should be contacted by the organisers when details become available.

Launching the 2013 program in Melbourne as part of National Road Safety Week (May 14-21), Ford executives pointed to data from the Victorian government and Transport Accident Commission (TAC) that shows young drivers are seven times more likely than full-licence holders to be killed or injured when driving in the dark.

“What I see is kids who often have had very minimal night driving experience, and when you have difficult conditions – in the dark, when it’s raining, perhaps with friends in the car – and you combine that with less experience, it can make for a very dangerous situation,” said Driving Solutions director James Stewart.

“That’s what we want to tackle with Driving Skills For Life this year.”

Ford Australia president Andrew Birkic also pointed to NSW government stats that show fatigue accounts for around 20 per cent of road deaths in NSW, with the risk of a fatigue-related crash being four times greater later at night or early in the morning.

Students who tend to stay up late are among those most likely to feel fatigued and are therefore at greater risk of being involved in an accident after dark.

“There’s nothing more important on the road than safety and that’s why we found the statistics around how many more young people suffer injuries and fatalities at night so concerning,” said Birkic.

“We’re hoping that by teaching young drivers practical night driving skills, we might help keep them just that bit safer on the road.”

Ford Driving Skills for Life was founded in 2003 and, according to the company, has provided free advanced driver education to more than one million people worldwide.

The program is open to drivers aged 16-24, who hold a valid learner’s permit or driver’s licence.

Head to FordDSFL.com.au for further information and registration.