As a neurosurgeon I often see the tragic outcome of road crashes that could have been prevented. Broken bodies and broken lives go hand in hand with the choices we make on the road. I have seen it time and time again and it has to stop. Youth road trauma is a major community problem, a huge economic cost and a tragedy for families when it hits ‘home’.
We must be providing our most at risk drivers and their passengers with the best possible road safety education to help them make better choices when on the road. I am pleased to be supporting RSE to help develop a road safety culture that will contribute to reducing deaths and life changing injuries on our roads.
As a Police officer for over 40 years and NSW Police Commissioner for 5 years, I have personally seen all too often the devastating impact that road trauma can have at all levels of the community. I have long advocated that the key to making our roads a safer place rests with driver education programs.
We must develop a road safety culture in schools, supporting behaviour change through interactive learning that is age appropriate and importantly promoting social and peer responsibility. Through the RYDA Program, RSE are committed to providing the best possible road safety education for youth.
With many of our students affected by road trauma, it was such an important day in the broader context of their ‘life education’. The range of road safety themes covered for young drivers was impressive and the workshops were informative. It provided an important message at a key time in a young person’s life. It quite possibly might save a life!
I would like to convey just how worthwhile the day was. It had students buzzing for weeks. All students, without exception, got a lot of practical and useful information from the different sessions and were quick to talk to their teachers, family and fellow students about what they had experienced.
You always know when it’s been a powerful experience for students when I receive emails from their parents. I was so glad to hear that the driving conversations progressed from RYDA to the dinner table. We will definitely be signing up for next year.
Outstanding program. All facilitators were excellent. The workshop is essential for all Year 10 students. It is relevant, highly informative, and very powerful without being sensationalist.
The presenters were of a very high quality and the feedback from the students during our debrief back at school was extremely encouraging. Nothing beats real life education and that was exactly what the students participated in today. It would take us weeks to get across what each of the experts manage to do in 30 minutes. Every student will have Raymond (Crash Survivor) in their minds and hearts for some time.
My daughter went to the course at Homebush yesterday and was very impressed. The training was just great – all the limits we have put on her, and the way we’ve taught her to drive, all came into play and she could see the reasons for our ‘control’…I did hours of commentary drives with her, which has shown her where and what to look for. In the past she’s bucked us about our refusal to let her get in the car with other p platers, now she says there’s no way she would. Job done! Great job, thank you, the impact on the girls was huge.
After my son came along to RYDA he started to drive with more respect for my car, his life, the safety of his passengers and the road. I pray this continues. I really felt that his attitude as a driver AND as a passenger had changed. I thank you and your team for what you offer these students.
This road safety excursion was by far one of the best excursions I have ever been to. I have learned so much and found today so interesting that I couldn’t wait to tell my family all that I learned. My favourite part was the crash Investigators presented by Ben telling us his story on how he ended up in a wheelchair due to a car crash. That evening when I got home I shared my learn[ing] with my family in order to create road safety awareness and share this information with family and friends
[I got to] know my strengths and areas for development, like self-control. It gave me a lot of tips for me about self-control, such as how to remove as many physical distractions from the cars as I can, laugh about things that go wrong instead of getting mad, allow enough time for the journey to avoid stressing out not getting angry at other road users. I have already started to use some of these tips, they actually do help me a lot
In the last session I was able to reflect on all of the RYDA activities. After gaining information from all the other sessions I felt as if I was able to change my attitude towards driving. I felt maturer and more considerate of all types of road users. Thank you for organising this. And some parts were really funny, that’s a bonus
It allowed me to do some introspection into my own habits and personaility traits, and come out the other side with targeted strategies on how to keep myself and others safe both behind the wheel and passengers in the car.
This past Friday, my friends and I were driving with another friend who has her P’s, and as she started to drive, she asked us to keep it down while she was driving and we all agreed and respected her ask, thanks to what we had learned on Monday. It really helped to take these things seriously, and not start laughing or make fun of someone if they ask for something like that while they’re driving.
