South Africa has one of the highest road accident fatality rates in the world, with over 55% of these fatal accidents occurring at night. As such, Volkswagen is taking the lead in the education of the drivers on the challenges and risks associated with night-time driving.

“We are acutely focused on our ambition of creating safer roads, not only for our drivers, but for all road users including passengers, pedestrians, cyclists and animals,” says Bridget Harpur, Head of Marketing for Volkswagen South Africa.

“With over half of our country’s fatal accidents occurring at night, we asked ourselves, then why do we all only learn to drive during the day? Through our Night School curriculum, we are hoping to provide a tangible and effective solution that will help play a part in reducing the country’s night-time road accident statistics and as a result, help save lives,” says Bridget.

Volkswagen’s road safety initiative encompasses three main aspects: the ongoing innovation of its vehicle safety technologies, driver education and upskilling, and fostering large scale public awareness.

Volkswagen vehicles are already engineered with a number of advanced safety systems and features such as their IQ.DRIVE with blind spot assist, lane assist, multi-collision brakes and adaptive cruise control. However, Volkswagen believes that driving road safety goes beyond what is under the hood of its vehicles.

Through Night School, Volkswagen has developed a comprehensive free open-source online curriculum (vw.co.za/en/nightschool) that is fully dedicated to night-time driving education and includes learner tests at the end of each chapter.

In addition to the online curriculum, Volkswagen’s Advanced Driving academy will also be offering a real-world theoretical and practical course hosted by their experienced defensive driving instructors based at Zwartkops Raceway.

The new addition to their extensive series of driving courses takes a specialised approach aimed to empower attendees with the skills, knowledge, and practical experience on how to navigate the challenges and dangers of driving at night.

Volkswagen’s Night School curriculum covers a range of night-driving topics from understanding your vehicle, visibility and poor vision, driver fatigue, recklessness, personal safety, weather conditions and a host of factors that compromise a driver’s ability when on the roads after dark.

“To us at Volkswagen, while current road safety statistics are grim, we believe they provide the impetus for action. Statistics are not forecasts. It is imperative to reduce our country’s road fatalities and we believe, through collaborative and transformative efforts, that together we can make a difference,” says Bridget.

Volkswagen has created Night School to join forces with existing initiatives, led by both government agencies and the private sector, with the intended purpose of collaborating to save lives. “We invite, or rather challenge, all South African road users to join us in our goal of creating a safer South Africa by enrolling in Volkswagen’s Night School.

• Interested people can enrol to Volkswagen’s Night School Curriculum by visiting nightschool.vw.co.za