Teen road offenders join pioneering safety course

A road safety programme for driving offenders, said by organisers to be the first of its kind in England, has expanded to include children.

Morse, or Making Our Roads Safer For Everyone launched in 2019, and is piloting a new programme for 13-17 year-olds.

It is a joint project between the charity Your Support Services (YSS) and West Mercia Youth Justice Service, funded by the West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner and covering Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

YSS said the aim was to make roads safer and support teens who had committed driving offences to break the cycle and work towards a brighter future.

The programme has taken on its first cohort of 19 teenagers, who have committed offences including driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, stealing cars and risky behaviour on the roads.

The managing director of YSS, Deb Grantham, said: "It's an innovative new way of working with young people involved with traffic offences.

"It's a 12-week course very much based on our adult behavioural change programme, but tweaked so that it's appropriate for young people.

She added: "The whole point of Morse and Morse Youth is that we look at the root causes of these behaviours, and how can we work with them to prevent them happening again."

Gareth Boulton, chief executive to West Mercia's Police and Crime Commissioner, said road safety was the "biggest mail bag issue" for commissioner John Campion.

The PCC has invested almost £300,000 in the Morse and Morse Youth programmes.

Crime figures suggest the West Mercia area had the third largest number of deaths and serious injuries from unlawful driving in England and Wales in the year to September 2024.

Last month, three teenagers from Staffordshire and Wolverhampton died in a road accident near Shifnal, Shropshire.

Mr Boulton said he hoped the behavioural change programme would not be unique for long and that other police forces would follow suit.

One adult service user, known as JW, said he had joined the programme after being arrested twice for drug driving within three weeks.

"YSS didn't just focus on my driving, they helped me change the course of my life... I was able to get back into rugby... stay motivated and keep drug-free", he said.

"I am no longer the person I was before", he added.

Shropshire and Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Services also support the scheme.

Prevention Manager for Shropshire Ravinder Dharmi said it helped make the roads safer.

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