On the sunny but relatively icy Wednesday afternoon of November 12th, 130 students from Dartford Grammar school for Girls, made the 30 minute journey, to Woodville Halls Theatre, Auditorium in Gravesend, to view the theatre production ‘Licence to Kill’. This was a production made possible by the conjoined efforts of Kent County council, Medway council, Kent fire and rescue services and Kent police, South East Coast ambulance service, HM prison service, the Highways Agency and the Kent People's trust and it addressed the risks and consequences of dangerous driving.

On arriving at the venue, the event started with a cheerful atmosphere with music playing and students from Dartford Grammar School for Girls and other attending schools taking funny pictures which was shown on the big screen and got everyone laughing. The event started with a significant proportion of the room being told to stand up, and this we were told represented the 199 people between the ages of 17-24 year olds who had been killed or seriously injured as a result of a car accident in the last three years in Kent and Medway. A film of a recreated fatal car crash which had occurred previously in the local area was shown, and paused at intervals, and during these intervals, we were introduced to the different guest speakers who shared their experiences and spoke about how a car accident had influenced their lives in some way. In this way, we met Mike and Celia who are serious collisions investigators, Alan a fire fighter, Denise a paramedic, Marion a mother who lost her 16 year old daughter in a car crash, Alaina who was a passenger involved in a car crash at the age of 14 and Spencer was also involved in a car crash. Having the guest speakers share their experiences got the audience thinking about the consequences of dangerous driving and how the decisions we made when in a car, such as putting on a seat belt, could affect the outcome and severity of injuries a person sustained, should they ever be involved in a car crash.

I and other students got to see how profound a reckless decision could affect people’s lives, not only in the short term but also in the long term, and also the ripple effect, that a car crash can have on a community. Speaking to other students, after the event, I believe every individual left having learnt something new and we were all reminded by the guest speakers and hosts that we have a “Licence to Drive not a licence to Kill”.