A POWERFUL roadshow teaching Wee County young people about the dangers of careless driving has secured a major funding boost.

Central Safe Drive, Stay Alive, which has been reaching thousands of senior pupils each year from across the central belt, has received financial backing from Air Products.

The support from the company, which is building an air separation plant in Alloa, comes as a huge boost for chair Alan Faulds BCAc and his team, who have been delivering the show for 16 years.

While the road safety initiative, which delivers a live show at the MacRobert in Stirling involving emergency services personnel from across the Forth Valley each year, has been credited with a reduction in road deaths in the area, funding is always a huge issue.

Alan said: “Central Safe Drive Stay Alive are delighted to be working in partnership with Air Products, a company that really has the community at the centre of its safety thinking.

“Thanks to this investment, as well as other funding we can hopefully secure, we are able to continue delivering the show for at least the next three years, but we are mindful that fundraising has to continue, and as a dedicated team we will continue to pursue funding avenues to provide not only the annual show but also the school talks and resources to provide free road safety information to all school ages.

“Air Products have really stepped up with their commitment to community based safety, and they are supporting the Clackmannanshire area not only with this great new facility but taking a real reactive approach in their responsibility in keeping all members of the community safe on our roads.”

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Alan, supported by Melanie Mitchell and many others, has to work extremely hard year-round to raise the funds needed to put the annual show together.

Indeed, a plea for funding was issued in February this year as current S4 pupils heard from those whose lives have been changed by horrific road traffic accidents in the area.

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Alan added: “Without this injection of funding from Air Products, the Safe Drive project absolutely would not have been delivered in the future, and in the 16 years the project has been running, over 60,000 young people have seen Safe Drive, Stay Alive and incidents involving young drivers locally have seen a decline.”

Fiona Buchanan, facility manager in Alloa, said: “Air Products is very much committed to being a positive part of the Alloa community.

“Many of us will be living locally, so road safety is a subject close to our hearts.

“As an industrial gas manufacturer, safety is, as you’d expect, our number one priority, and our safety focus extends from our own plants and drivers to our customer sites and the communities in which we operate.”