Police to modify sports car to teach young drivers

Devon and Cornwall Police has a new high performance sports car it will modify to teach young drivers about road safety.

In collaboration with a popular YouTube channel, officers are asking for ideas on which modifications to make.

The Ford Focus is a popular choice among young drivers and modified car enthusiasts, the force said.

It was funded by Vision Zero South West, a road safety partnership aiming to reduce road deaths in the region.

The car will be used to engage people at events and in road safety videos.

Revealing the car on the hugely popular George's Car Media (GCM) YouTube channel, road safety officer, Sgt Owen Messenger, said: "Ultimately we are going to be upgrading the engine, we're gonna make the car go faster, so we want to make it stop better as well.

"Give us your ideas, wheels, brakes, tyres."

They are also looking to add a wrap to the car and change the wheels.

Other options discussed including making the exhaust "sound better" and adding some bonnet vents or a roll cage.

The "hot hatch" modification will be used as part of a road safety campaign - showing drivers how to modify their cars legally.

Last year Devon and Cornwall Police used a Lotus Evora to turn heads and spark road safety conversations.

Sgt Messenger, said the Lotus helped the police to talk to people "who might not otherwise have wanted to speak to a police officer".

The car now has to be returned to Lotus, which gave him the idea of acquiring the Focus RS.

Supt Adrian Leisk, strategic roads policing lead and chairperson of the Vision Zero South West enforcement sub-group, said young drivers can be hard for police to engage with.

Supt Leisk said having the new vehicle would help to appeal to younger drivers.

He said: "Sadly, we know young people are over-represented in these collisions.

"Every young life lost or dramatically changed due to a collision is an absolute tragedy and this is just one of the many ways we are working hard to prevent such crashes."

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