HUNDREDS of children left an auditorium close to tears after hearing the heart-wrenching stories of people directly effected by road accidents.

‘SafeDrive StayAlive’ was held at the Burnley Mechanics Theatre and saw the 10,000th Lancashire student told of the dangers of irresponsible driving.

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Hosted by the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety it aimed at changing the attitudes and behaviour of 16 to 19-year-old road users and featured a mixture of film clips and hard-hitting real-life experiences from police officers, paramedics and firefighters about what it’s really like to deal with road traffic collisions.

Guest speakers included Kirsty Whitehead, who lost her son Josh in a motorcycle accident in 2008 and firefighter Kevin Balyckyi, whose son Lewis was killed instantly when his bike was hit by a van.

Also on the stage were Sgt John Jennings-Wharton, who was the family liaison officer in the 2010 Accrington horror crash in which toddler Jayden Bloomer, his mum Jackie, and driver Alfred Ernest Wray died.

Paramedic Nadia Akula spoke of a fatal crash she attended on a country road in which two boys lost both of their parents and their grandfather.

The event saw students shown a video interview with Jonny Makin who was left paralysed after a crash involving an overtaking car on a motorway in March.

Speaking after the event Burnley College student Lucy Simkin said: “It was a real eye opener.

“It put it into perspective for us.

“Now I will be careful, knowing the consequences and the impact it can have on people’s lives.”

Adil Ahmed, 16, said: “It was quite emotional. It was quite shocking hear about people losing their lives at so young an age.

“I was aware of it before today but it really put it into perspective for me.”

Luke Hacking, 16, said: “It shows you have to stay safe and drive carefully.

“If you are behind the wheel and you get distracted that can cost someone their life.”

Backing the Lancashire Telegraph’s “Stop the Madness” campaign Supt Jon Puttock said there there have been 39 fatalities on the roads on Lancashire so far this year and he expected more in the next six weeks.

Supt Puttock said: “We had up to 40 deaths last year in Lancashire but we had twice as many with life-changing injuries and sitting behind that we had hundreds of people who were seriously injured.

“For us it is about getting the message across about the devastating impact irresponsible driving can have on individuals and their families and getting people to alter their attitudes,”