September Mature Driver Roadshow

Published on 13th September 2022

In September, the Northants Safer Roads Alliance, of which are part, held their second Mature Drivers Roadshow, this time in Rushden.

If anyone has been to the Goods Shed in Rushden, you will know it is a very large space! Partly for this reason, and partly as the event in May was oversubscribed, it was decided to up the numbers to 75 per session (morning and afternoon). With limited advertising (the U3As, WI and on social media), the tickets soon began to go. This was encouraging, and after a few weeks almost half the tickets had gone. Then the event was put out on the electronic Neighbourhood watch scheme and bam! It was full!

The stands included crime and fire prevention, a healthcare company (who kindly baked hundreds of shortbread biscuits for the delegates), a Batak reaction time testing machine, a bar (not a real one, but one to show how much one unit of drink is etc), us, the British Horse Society, and RDAC/Driving Mobility who were able to bring their adapted vehicle into the venue! Also set up were two places where delegates could check their eyesight by reading a number plate at 20 metres.

The British Horse Society brought along a table top game based on Scalextric but set on country roads. The objective was to go round the track as SLOW as you could! It was hard!

Each session started off with a presentation done by Keith Millard (Road Safety, Keir) and Norman James (Northants Fire and Rescue). This included the importance of eyesight tests (and showing where they could check theirs), Smart motorways, the changes to the Highway Code (especially the Hierarchy of Road Users), the impact of prescription drugs, What3words and much more!

A great event, well attended, and aimed at enable older drivers driver safer for longer.

There will be another in 2023.