TEENAGERS learning to drive or on the cusp of getting behind the wheel were warned of the dangers of driving in a gritty performance that pulls no punches.

Students at Bolton College and pupils from Turton High School and Rivington and Blackrod High School will be among 7,000 youngsters from educational establishments across Greater Manchester to have watched the Safe Drive, Stay Alive show.

The stark and often emotional presentation features offenders, relatives of car crash victims, members of the emergency services and collision survivors recounting directly to the audience the true horrors and consequences they faced as the result of genuine road accidents.

Former Britain's Got Talent and The X-Factor contestant Ella Shaw, aged 18, was inspired to compose a song after seeing the production last year as a student at Salford City College.

Her track — written from the perspective of somebody killed in a collision — has been added to the show.

Ella, of Langho, Lancashire, said: "I had just turned 17 when I saw 'Safe Drive Stay Alive'.

"I thought I was going on a college trip to drive cars and it turned out I was completely wrong.

"I was so baffled by the dance track that was playing as we entered the haunting big auditorium and had no idea what we had just arrived to."

Ella said: "I was instantly touched and overwhelmed by some of the things I saw and heard as I was learning to drive at the time it really impacted me.

"I've been fortunate enough to never have lost someone in a car accident but the thought of losing someone nearly brought me to tears.

“I'm so pleased to share my passion for composing music by writing a song personally for 'Safe Drive Stay Alive' and really hope it helps to change people’s lives like it did mine."

The Safe Drive, Stay Alive show was launched last year by by Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, North West Ambulance Service, Salford Royal NHS Trust, HMP Forest Bank, Greater Manchester Police and bereaved family members in an attempt to reduce the number of young driver deaths.

Students watch the performance at Middleton Arena and this year's run is longer in order to increase the number of young people who get to see it.

Ch Supt Shaun Donnellan, Divisional Commander for GMP's Bolton Division, said: "Safe Drive, Stay Alive shows the devastating effect that dangerous driving can have on people from all walks of life and is unfortunately something that my officers in Bolton come across all too often.

"Telling parents that their son or daughter has been killed in a collision never gets any easier.

"There are no actors in Safe Drive, Stay Alive and unfortunately everything you hear on that stage is real.

"The bravery of the people who stand up and tell their stories is astounding."

Over the last decade, 221 people have been killed in car crashes involving young drivers, either as occupants of vehicles or pedestrians.

Young motorists are involved in more than 1,000 collisions a year across the conurbation.

One of the most recent examples was the 80mph street race crash in St Helens Road, Daubhill, that shocked Bolton in July 2013.

Speeding motorists Furqaan Mohmed, then 21, and Mohammed Patel, then 20, were jailed over the smash in which a 12-year-old schoolboy walking home from prayers and a market traders were struck and seriously injured.

Peter Molyneux, chairman of the Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership, said: “It is important for the partnership to provide funding for this project as a disproportionate number of younger drivers and passengers are killed or seriously injured in collisions on Greater Manchester roads.

"This project encourages younger people to change their attitudes and behaviours towards the implications of taking risks on the roads."