Young drivers are the most at-risk drivers on the road, and one program has spent the last 13 years doing all it can to inform students of the risks when they get behind the wheel.
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The Rotary Youth Driver Awareness (RDYA) program is an education session for year 11 students helping teach them about the dangers of the road, and on Thursday it had its 5000th student take a class.
The program is jointly run by the three Rotary clubs in Orange and funded by Orange City Council, John Davis Motors and Orange Driving School, with volunteers running sessions and bringing in guest speakers and emergency services.
Year 11 student at James Sheahan Catholic High School Cameron Geddes said the program had taught him what can go wrong.
“It’s made me more aware of the dangers that can be on the road and more aware of other people who are driving,” he said.
James Sheahan student Kurt Stephens was the 5000th person to undertake the program and said it was “really insightful”.
“We’ve been given a lot of tips and stories as well that will help us make good decisions on the road,” he said.
Stephens, who has his learners permit, while some of his classmates are on P plates, said the most useful part of the course was information telling students how long cars took to stop in different conditions.
Rotary Club of Orange Daybreak’s Graham Jaques said hoped the program was making a “very positive contribution” to the safety of beginning drivers.
“We hope we can have young drivers still alive at 25 and we are providing experience … we older drivers know or think we know but beginning driver needs information provided for them,” he said.
“Stopping distances are a crucial one, that you need a three second time lag between vehicles and also because we have these presenters, emergency services are able to give real life experience to what young drivers will hopefully never see.”
David Paton was in a motor accident after he pulled into the path of an oncoming truck in 2001 when he was 17 which resulted in him being in a coma for nine weeks.
He woke up with a serious brain injury and shattered ribcage, spending seven months in hospital.
“I’m trying to share the lessons I learnt so people don’t go through what I did when I learnt it,” he said.
Max Stainkamph
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
