Teenagers had to be led out of the room in tears after being confronted with the horrific effects of failing to drive safely.

Hundreds of schoolchildren from Oxfordshire, along with young soldiers stationed at Dalton Barracks, were shown graphic images of car crashes and heard from a bereaved couple who lost their son in a high-speed car accident — and from a young man paralysed in a motorcycle crash.

The event at the Kings’ Centre, Osney Mead, Oxford, yesterday, was the first of a series of roadshows, called Safe Drive, Stay Alive, aimed at making young people aware of the dangers of not wearing a seatbelt, drink-driving, speeding and distracting drivers.

Susan and Paul Smith, from Stone, near Thame, spoke about how their 22-year-old son, Richard, had died.

He was a passenger in a car — which had been racing another vehicle at speeds of over 100mph — and wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. Mr Smith said: “It’s difficult saying it and it is emotionally draining, but for us it is just so important to have the opportunity to speak to so many young people and share our story.

“Because it’s real, it touches their hearts and minds. If it makes a difference to just one of those people in the audience, it’s all been worth it.”

A film showing the build-up to a fictional crash was shown, with police officers, paramedics, firefighters and doctors coming on to the stage and explaining their role in an accident.

Then Mr and Mrs Smith spoke to the audience of 16- to 18-year-olds, with images of their son before he died and of the mangled wreckage of the car he was in displayed behind them, followed by wheelchair-bound Gareth Houston, 22, from Didcot.

Many of those watching the presentation were reduced to tears, and eight had to be taken out of the session.

It is the third year the campaign has been run and by the end 35,000 people will have seen it.

Supt Mick Doyle, head of roads policing at Thames Valley Police, said: “It is really important not just to talk to young drivers, but talk to other people who are going to be in a car with them.

“It only takes one passenger to say ‘for goodness sake slow down’ and the idea is to confront them with the reality and make them realise they are not invincible and it could happen to them.”

Chief Supt Brendan O’Dowda, Oxfordshire commander and the father of an 18-year-old son who was learning to drive, said: “As a father, of course I am quite frightened for him.

“It’s not because I don’t trust my son, but when you are 17 or 18 you feel indestructible.”