Rotary Youth Driver Awareness program puts road safety in perspective for Bega Valley students

On Wednesday May 10, Year 11 students from Eden Marine High School and Lumen Christi Catholic College attended the Rotary Youth Driver Awareness program (RYDA) at the Sapphire Coast Kart Club track.

The previous day, Bega and Bombala High School students had taken part.

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Various workshops were held throughout each day, with talks from the local police about licences, demerit points and speeding, as well as outreach talks from car crash survivors and family members of victims.

Eden Marine Year 11 student Darcy Newman said the message that stood out the most from the road safety excursion was that of the car crash survivors.

"They were talking to us about an accident that had happened and the different ways it could have been avoided and I thought it was quite interesting," he said.

Darcy said the RYDA program was a great way to help prevent more accidents and gave students like himself a better understanding on how to avoid them.

Cailan O'Reilly also from Eden Marine High School said the workshop that stood out the most to him, was the live demonstration of a car suddenly braking at various speed limits.

"It was really quite eye opening to see a realistic demonstration of how close you can be to a car when they brake late and the distance it actually takes for them to brake," he said.

Cailan said the Rotary Youth Driver Awareness program had been a great way to show students a more practical and memorable example of road rules and why they're necessary.

"Days like this are important because when you're learning about it on paper you think you understand but when you actually see it in practice, it really puts it into perspective," he said.

Lumen Christi Catholic College Year 11 students Hayley Stewart and Imogen Bichard said the youth driver safety course had helped them realise how important it was stay alert and aware on the roads.

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Hayley said the crash survivor story on the day had made "things seem more real".

"It really taught us what could happen if we aren't paying enough attention," she said.

Hayley's friend Imogen added that hearing the story from the woman first hand had felt so relatable, especially since she had been their age during the crash.

"I'm actually going for my Ps next week, so that puts a lot of things in perspective for me because I'm like, 'oh, this is real, accidents like these are possible'," she said.

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