A new initiative to educate young drivers is touring Wiltshire next month.

The Safe Drive campaign, started last year by Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service, aims to reduce road deaths by educating those most at risk.

It also raises awareness about road safety with thousands of young people, who are the drivers of the future.

The new schedule in Wiltshire kicks off on November 6 and will see a total of 34 schools and colleges attending road shows, to be held in Trowbridge, Devizes, Lavington, Marlborough and Salisbury (where 12 out of 14 secondary schools have booked a slot).

The 26 countywide shows in this year's campaign are realistic and hard hitting, telling real stories about real people. The shock tactics are designed to make young people sit up and think long and hard before getting behind the wheel of a car and taking undue risks with their own, and others' lives.

A film showing a family, with two teenage children, their friends and their eventful lives runs in between the speakers' sessions This story ends in tragedy, due to peer pressure - although the driver was sober, he was being pressurised by his passengers, who had been drinking, to overtake a slower-moving car as they were in a hurry to get to their next party. He lost control and the car collided with a tree in a field.

Graphic footage demonstrates the process the police, paramedics and fire fighters have to go through before they can remove the casualties to hospital, where sadly, they don't all survive. The images are hard-hitting and very effective.

Speakers who have suffered real tragedy in their lives, and who have lost someone close to them, will be sharing their thoughts and feelings with the audience. Firefighter Sarah Allen lost her brother Mike in a fatal road collision last year, when his motorbike was travelling at less than 30mph.

She talks about the pain, the trauma, the carnage and the heartache of losing someone special, saying: "Imagine never seeing them again. Never speaking to them again, never ever being able to make, or receive, a phone call from them again."

Other speakers include police officers, fire fighters, paramedics and victims of road traffic collisions. Clare Brixey tells her tragic story of three years ago, when her son Ashley, 20, had gone out to Bath with friends.

The driver of the car, a friend of Ashley's, was twice the legal alcohol limit and had exceeded speeds of 80mph in a 40mph limit in Limpley Stoke on the way home. The car mounted a bank into a garden and ended upside down in a swimming pool.

A female passenger and the driver got out. Ashley was unconscious and drowned.

Clare has recently launched a petition requesting that every learner driver should undertake the Safe Drive road show prior to being given a driving licence.

She said:"I think that Safe Drive is the most important project ever produced for young drivers and it's the only way to help change their attitude and ultimately, reduce the number of deaths involving young people, on the roads."

After the 11 Swindon Safe Drive shows concluded on October 3, the team headed down to Dorset to do two special shows at Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester on October 4.

This arose after a team from Dorset Fire & Rescue Service visited a show last year in Trowbridge and were so impressed they requested that the Safe Drive team include Dorset in their 2008 schedule.

Feedback from the first pilot there has been very positive and Linzi Holt, children and young people co-ordinator for Dorset Fire & Rescue Service, said: "We are very keen to promote and support the initiative and this is just one of the things the service is doing in order to reach its strategic aim of improving community safety by risk reduction.

"This presentation supports young people in having the knowledge, understanding and skills to play an active part in society and have influence within their own communities."

A total of 9,000 young people will attend one of this year's Safe Drive road shows. Wiltshire Fire & Rescue's Road Safety Manager, Ian Hopkins, said: "Road deaths in Wiltshire and Swindon have increased since last year, with a total of 45 deaths to-date during 2007. The Safe Drive Stay Alive shows are a unique opportunity to make a difference. At the end of the day, we are helping to save the lives of the most vulnerable and at-risk group of road users."