Renault Supports Carkraft Road Safety Event

LONDON – Sept 13, 2012: Renault is helping to cut the number of serious road accidents by backing an award-winning safety scheme re-launched at Silverstone.

CarKraft is a road safety initiative designed to bring down the number of people killed and seriously injured in Northamptonshire, which lies at the centre of the UK’s strategic road network and is used on a daily basis by drivers all over the country.

Renault is proud to be a responsible player in road safety and is also a global partner of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety, which through its Road Safety Fund, is aiming to reduce the number of worldwide road accident victims by 50 per cent between now and 2020.

CarKraft fits in with the French brand’s road safety policy which addresses all facets of the problem, with traffic injuries the number one cause of death for young people worldwide, including preventing and correcting any faults, raising the awareness for all generations (with 80 per cent of accidents due to human factors), and, ultimately, saving lives.

In partnership with Northamptonshire County Council and Adrian Flux Insurance, Renault is supporting the re-launch of the CarKraft scheme at the Porsche Experience Centre at Silverstone on Sunday, 28th October. Tutors running the event are all highly qualified motoring professionals with many years of experience of both motor racing and advance driving techniques.

The initiative will offer participants a dynamic mix of workshops, allowing them to experience driving on simulated, adverse road conditions on a state of the art, purpose built facility at Silverstone. It also explores the main causes of car crashes – alcohol, mobile phones, speeding and seat belts.

Drivers aged over 17 will experience the Kick Plate and Ice Hill, which both generate the effect of a loss of wheel traction to explore car control under extreme road conditions, and have an assessed drive on public carriageways with a police driver, who will provide guidance on advance techniques.

The CarKraft driver improvement scheme started in 2001 and was aimed at young drivers aged 15 to 24 years old. It was awarded a Prince Michael International Road Safety Award in 2006 and since then more than 3,000 people have benefited from the unique experience which helped reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured in the county to an all time low last year. CarKraft has since evolved and expanded this year to include non-drivers between the ages of 15 and 21 and licence holders of all ages from anywhere in the UK.