Boorowa Central School students will now be safer behind the wheel after participating in the Rotary Youth Driver Awareness (RYDA) safe driving program recently.
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One hundred and sixty year 11 students from Boorowa, Canowindra, Cowra and Grenfell underwent the training at Cowra’s PCYC and Cowra Airport.
Rotarian, Peter Chivers hopes the students will take home important messages, and not become a devastating accident statistic.
“Accidents have a devastating ripple effect through rural communities, and the saddest part is that drivers between 17 and 25 are over represented in serious accidents,” he said.
According to RYDA information 500 000 of the Australian population will be involved in an accident leading to a fatality or serious disability.
RYDA intends to educate each generation of drivers to minimise risk taking behaviour on the road.
“We don’t know if driver education works, but we do know that statistics for fatalities and serious injuries have gone down in recent years.”
“This can not be accredited to one thing, however better education, better policing, better roads, better cars and better, faster medical assistance all have some affect on the numbers.”
Students had a number of guest speakers throughout the day.
Marg Kennedy told the students what it is like to have police knock on the door to let you know your child or loved one has been victim to a fatal accident.
Nicole Sugden, who greeted the course participants from a wheelchair told her story.
She was an L plate driver when she had an accident, and is now paralysed, and relies on the assistance of an electric wheel chair.
The students also learnt about hazard perception and stopping, spoke to Liz Reynolds from Headspace about the effects of drugs and alcohol and listened to Amanda Anniny speak on mental health.
The car used for the braking tutorials was donated by Kia in Bathurst and Rotary would like to thank them for supporting the program.
Lloyd Garratt from the Cowra Services Club spoke to the students about the cost of maintaining a vehicle.
Constable Lucy Rhinberger and Senior Constable Jason Matters also spoke to the audience.
The Cowra Rotary volunteers cooked the students a barbecue for lunch and sent them home with a lot to think about.
