Young drivers learn about road safety

LESSON: Driving instructor Andrew Robertson teaches Makoura College students about stopping distances.

The inaugural Wairarapa RYDA road safety scheme will cap lessons this week for about 450 secondary school students from throughout the region.

Ru Tauri, road safety education general manager, said about 150 Year 12 students will attend each of three days of sessions that started yesterday at the Solway Showgrounds in Masterton.

RYDA is an acronym for Rotary Youth Driver Awareness, which was founded by Rotary Australia in 2001 and rolled out in New Zealand in 2007.

"It's not just about road safety education or Rotary, even though they are involved alongside a lot of other community agencies. It's about contributing to a reduction in youth road trauma and raising awareness of the key messages related to road safety," Mr Tauri said.

"We like to think that students walk away with the knowledge to make better decisions on our roads as drivers or passengers. It's awareness education not driver skill acquisition. It's about empowering young people, whether they're behind the wheel or not, and helping to save lives."

He said students from Kuranui and Makoura colleges completed the course yesterday and would be followed today by students from Wairarapa and Solway colleges. Students from St Matthews Collegiate School, Ponatahi Christian School, and Rathkeale and Chanel colleges will attend the course tomorrow.

Mr Tauri said participant students complete six stages in the RYDA programme in classes of 25 to 30 that include sessions on Stopping Distances; Plan B (about safe celebrating and the impact of drugs and alcohol on driving); Road Choices; My Wheels; Hazards, Distractions and Risks; and Crash Survivor - featuring a presentation from 43-year-old former Levin butcher Mark Ridley, whose life was irrevocably changed in 1989 after he received serious injuries when a driver turned in to the path of the motorcycle he was riding. Mr Ridley, who was accompanied by his teenage daughter, said he was in a coma for almost two months after the crash and had almost died during the early stages of his recovery. "I tell them what I was like and show them how I am now. It was a freak accident that changed my life. I tell the kids the reality of it all."

Mr Tauri said the inaugural Wairarapa course also involved representatives from several organisations including the Wairarapa Road Safety Council and Wairarapa REAP, as "youth road safety is a community issue that needs a community response".

Students also viewed a mangled car in which the young driver died after his vehicle hit a tree.