Fun quiz has serious aim

Press, 15 September 1988, Page 13

Fun quiz has serious aim

TVNZ’s newest quiz is a fun programme for secondary school students, with a serious purpose — road safety.

"The Driving Force,” beginning this afternoon at 4.55 on Two, narrows the focus to New Zealand’s road code, and its specific relevance to young and inexperienced drivers. Students from all over the country will be tested on this subject, with a $3OOO library grant and a state-of-the-art colour television for the winning contestant. All 20 contestants in the seven-pro-gramme series will win a defensive-driving . course for their efforts.

Five hundred secondary school students sat a demanding, two-hour, written examination to quality for “The Driving Force.” The highest-scoring student from each school made it on to the show, with a final breakdown of nine boys and 11 girls, ranging in age from 14 to 17.

“The Driving Force” runs on simple question and answer lines, combining all the trickiest aspects of the road code with driving safety and common sense.

Fronting the show is a former “Spot On” presenter, Sandy Beverley. “The Driving Force” has reinforced his view that road safety education is vitally important for young people. “I was amazed that some young people see driving as a right, not a privilege you earn and keep,” he says. “Some just simply haven’t got the foggiest about what they’re on about when they get behind the wheel, and I find that quite frightening. “But society’s attitudes about driving are changing quite drastically. Now if a kid hops into a V 8 and does a wheelie, it’s not necessarily viewed as being cool any more.”