Kelvin wins FIA Road Safety competition as part of the Young Driver Excellence Academy
South African driver Kelvin van der Linde has won the road safety presentation competition, which formed part of the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy. His video will now feature on the FIA website to help promote road safety worldwide.
The competition was held at the third Academy workshop in Austria and each driver was asked to prepare a 15-second video statement to promote one of the 10 Golden Rules featured in the FIA’s Action for Road Safety campaign. The presentations were then judged by FIA Director of Communications Pierre Regent, FIA Institute Secretary General Quentin Crombie and Academy Performance Manager Alex Wurz.
Van der Linde won the competition, with Sweden’s Erik Johansson and Jorge Cevallos in joint second place, and Lithuania’s Ignas Gelzinis in third. All of their presentations are now available on the FIA site.
Over the course of the workshop, the participants engaged with road safety both in the classroom and in practical situations on the track. Susan Pikrallidas, FIA Secretary General for Automobile Mobility and Tourism, gave a presentation on the numerous road safety campaigns the FIA is involved with and outlined how the drivers can best deliver these programmes to a broader, international audience. A number of tests on the track with variable road surfaces followed, which enabled the drivers to learn how to deal with a multitude of driving hazards.
The participants were encouraged to use this newly gained knowledge in their presentations. They were given 20 minutes to prepare and were offered assistance by Alex Wurz and Academy staff. The drivers were asked to target their message to their peer group, young people up to 25 years of age, conveying the importance of personal and collective responsibility when driving and as passengers.
Creativity and innovation were encouraged and props were allowed to demonstrate key points. The messages did not need to be focused on motor sport but drivers were allowed to draw inspiration from a motor sport context.
Presentations focused on a variety of road safety messages from encouraging good vehicle maintenance to highlighting the dangers of texting while driving.
The four chosen drivers and their videos are now available on the FIA website and will support the FIA’sAction for Road Safety campaign. The competition was provided with the goal of encouraging the 10 Academy participants to become ambassadors for road safety during their careers.