April 29, 2019
RYDA – Rotary’s unique youth road safety program – will be celebrating its 10th anniversary in Kingaroy this week.
The program, which is hosted by local Rotary clubs at the Kingaroy TAFE campus, targets Year 11 students from local schools.
This is the age group that is just about to get their L-plates and hit the roads for the first time.
This year, students from Murgon and Nanango State high schools and St Mary’s Catholic College will go through the program on Wednesday (May 1) while students from Kingaroy State High School will take over on Thursday (May 2).
Local police and SES members as well as Rotary and community volunteers help with the practical displays and seminars.
Kingaroy RYDA co-ordinator Geoff Hosking said 1146 lives were lost on Australian roads in 2018.
“Even more sobering is the fact that young people continue to be over-represented in road crash statistics, with 226 young lives lost last year,” he said.
“And for every live lost, another 30 are forever changed due to serious injuries.”
Geoff said education had been recognised as a critical element in reducing road trauma and for this reason the Rotary clubs of Kingaroy, Taabinga and Murgon were continuing their partnership with Road Safety Education (RSE) to bring the award-winning RYDA program back to Kingaroy.
Over the past decade, more than 2500 South Burnett students have had the opportunity to hear the life-saving messages presented at RYDA.
More than 350 students are expected to attend this week.
RSE is a national not-for-profit association. It runs the RYDA program at about 90 venues across Australia and New Zealand, providing a road safety message to a total of more than 500,000 students.
“RYDA is a series of practical and powerful workshops that challenge students to change the way they think about road safety and lay the foundation for safe road use throughout their lives,” RSE program director Greg Rappo said.
“RYDA focuses on building and increasing social competency and resilience and motivating low-risk behaviour.”
Geoff said one of the great things about the RYDA program was that it could be run in all communities by local road safety and education professionals, including police.
“Youth road trauma is a community problem that needs a whole-of-community response,” he said.
“Our local Rotary clubs and RSE are in a unique position to bring together all the essential elements to provide an effective and highly successful road safety education program for young people.”
RYDA is also supported by funding from the State Government and corporate partners BOC, Toyota Australia, Bridgestone, MTAA Super and Boral Limited.
Related articles:
