A PIONEERING scheme which has helped reduce accidents along a road dubbed 'death valley' came under the spotlight when an Australian government minister visited Dorset.

The Hon Carmel Zollo, South Australia Minister for Road Safety, was visiting the county to experience first-hand one of Dorset County Council's award-winning practical driver refresher courses.

Robert Smith, who is Dorset County Council's road safety education team leader, said: "We are delighted and highly honoured to receive a visit from another country's government road safety minister, especially as the minister has a special interest in innovative driver education projects such as our Community Safety Drive.

"We hope Mrs Zollo will be able share her experiences with road safety professionals back in Australia."

Mrs Zollo is in the UK for a week on a whistle-stop tour experiencing some of the most innovative and successful road safety education projects in the country - and Dorset was one of the local authorities recommended.

The county council's road safety team, in partnership with Dorset Police and the Dorset Safety Camera Partnership, piloted a driving education, engineering and enforcement project between 2002 and 2003 called the A37 Community Safety Drive.

The project offered regular users of the A37 between Dorchester and Yeovil the opportunity to refresh their practical defensive driving skills following a spate of serious crashes along the 18-mile route.

And, in the last three years, the number of serious injury road collisions along the road has fallen by more than 70 per cent.

The project, which is being introduced along other routes across Dorset, won a number of awards including, in 2004, a commendation in the prestigious Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards.

Mrs Zollo was taken on the community safety drive route accompanied by Tina Moyes, one of the experienced driving instructors who helped develop the project.

The minister was shown first hand how some simple defensive driving techniques can be used to help drivers reduce their risk of becoming a road crash victim.

She also saw a mobile safety camera unit in operation and dropped into Cerne Abbas, to see one of the sites where a speed indicator device is being trialled to remind drivers to slow down.

Cabinet member for highways and transport Col Geoffrey Brierley said: "We have worked very hard to improve the safety of Dorset's roads, and this visit shows how successful our efforts have been.

"It is a credit to the council's road safety team and our partner organisations, as well as the way local motorists have responded to our initiatives over the past few years."