TYRE company Bridgestone's commitment to road safety and the next generation of motorists has been underlined in a partnership with Young Driver, connecting the company with 320,000 pupils and parents over the next 12 months across the UK.

The collaboration will allow Bridgestone to educate budding motorists about the crucial role that tyres play in keeping them safe, through a host of inventive initiatives.

The announcement of the collaboration coincides with the UK's National Tyre Safety Month throughout October, organised by TyreSafe.

Young Driver delivers, on average, 140,000 lessons to youngsters aged between 10 and 17, each year, in cars ranging from Vauxhall Corsas to Porsches.

The scheme operates at 70 private venues all over the UK, offering responsible learning in a safe, controlled environment, with qualified driving instructors delivering lessons in a fun and engaging way, to nurture the future generation of drivers.

Bridgestone is now an exclusive tyre partner to the organisation and will be leveraging the partnership to educate youngsters about the vital role that tyres play on a car and the easy ways to check them to ensure they are legal and safe.

Bridgestone's north region vice president Andrea Manenti said: "We're thrilled to be working with Young Driver, who make such a lasting impression with budding motorists when sitting in the car for the first time.

"Young Driver makes an invaluable contribution towards road safety by educating pupils at an early age, which is what we are striving to achieve at Bridgestone. We want to educate budding motorists about the importance of tyre performance and maintenance at a time when these messages are most likely to live long in the memory, which is why we were so keen to strike up a collaboration."

Tyre safety giveaways and other educational opportunities will be explored including interactive quizzes on the official Young Driver app, and involvement with the Young Driver Foundation, which works with road safety charities and schools on a not-for-profit basis.

The partnership adds weight to Bridgestone's ‘Become a Bridgestone Road Safety Hero' campaign, where hundreds of free tyre safety checks have been conducted at a number of venues across the UK, including the British Motor Show in August where more than 800 cars tyre checks took place.

Ian Mulingani, managing director at Young Driver, said: "We've spent the last 15 years working hard to create a safer next generation of drivers. We realised that process didn't have to begin when a teenager was 17 and learning on the road - it's much more successful when it's done over a longer period of time and from a younger age. Introducing the drivers of the future to tyre safety can only be a good thing, in terms of making our roads a safer place to be, which is why we're delighted to be partnering with Bridgestone."

Bridgestone's partnership with Young Driver arrives on the back of a tyre safety survey commissioned by Bridgestone earlier this year, with 2,000 drivers across the UK, which highlighted a concerning disconnect between the acknowledged importance of tyre safety and the actual practices of vehicle owners.

In total, 73 per cent of motorists admitted they don't check their tyres, 29 per cent wait until their MOT and 35 per cent confessed to never thinking about checking their tyres at all.

Bridgestone's Young Driver partnership represents part of its mission to continue to provide social and customer value as a sustainable solutions company.