Youth workers hope slang will help cut road deaths by asking young drivers: "Do you drive with your balls or your brain?"

The question is a slogan on a set of pocket-sized information cards aimed at young men in Brighton and Hove.

The cards have been developed by youth workers and are written in slang used by the youngsters they regularly meet.

The safety message is underlined with a series of slang phrases like: "Remember, think with your big head not your little head."

Catherine Shelley, lead councillor for young people, said: "Some people may not like the language used and think it is unnecessary but it is a large part of the cards' success.

"They are directed at young people and would not be effective if they were written formally.

"The danger with young drivers, particularly men, is they think everyone on the road is an idiot apart from themselves."

The cards have been presented to Government road safety officials and praised by a Parliamentary committee to improve transport safety.

Other councils in London, Gloucester and Shropshire want them too and Northamptonshire Police plans to use them as part of its road safety campaign in schools.

The cards feature national statistics showing a 17-year-old male is seven times more likely to be involved in a crash than a middle-aged man.

Punishments, fines and penalty points which can be given out for various driving offences are listed.

Brighton and Hove youth worker Chris Parfitt said: "The style and content of the card grew from young people's views and our experience of their attitudes to written material.

"We have had good responses from young people and hope to gain sponsorship so we can produce more cards locally."

The wording was vetted by students at Brighton College of Technology.

Councillor Geoffrey Theobald, opposition leader, said: "Anything, no matter how it is written, which could help keep one person alive who otherwise may have died because of careless driving is worth it."

Carolyn Bond, of Sussex Police, which was consulted in producing the cards, said: "We welcome anything which will educate young drivers and hopefully decrease the number of accidents, some of them fatal, on roads in the county."