Year 11 students sobered to the dangers of driving at Road Safety Youth Expo

Blackcurrant and pineapple mocktails were on the menu for students who were sobered to the dangers of drink-driving yesterday. Year 11 students from Rotorua and Eastern Bay of Plenty high schools piled into the Rotorua Energy Events Centre to experience the implications of being on the road.

For its seventh year running, the Road Safety Youth Expo has caught the young minds of potential drivers before they hit the road.

John Paul College teacher Craig Symes said the video which screened at the beginning of the day was an effective education tool.

"They showed a morgue, a tray with a dead body, it could've been more graphic and that could've been upsetting but that's just what they need [students] to see.

"I see a lot of kids running around having fun but somewhere under it all I hope the message is getting across."

John Paul College's Jayden Williamson, 15, with constable Bronwyn Allen showing being drunk and walking in a straight line was not easy even with impairment goggles. Photo / Stephen Parker

One who was all too familiar with a crash scene was paramedic Mike France who, alongside Fire and Emergency New Zealand, led students through a party simulation.

"The opportunity here is to get them before they start driving and teaching them the skills.

"Being interactive rather than sitting down, I think you take away more when you have had a chance to touch or be involved with it."

Safer journeys co-ordinator Helen van Beek said the goal was to promote the road as an asset all motorists shared regardless of any factors.

"We all have a shared responsibility to use it properly and respect other road users.

"There is a basketball hoop which focuses on distractions driving, putting into perspective that you would not shoot a hoop while texting so why drive and text."

Over the next three days, more than 1200 students will get access to the Road Safety Expo which Rotorua councillor Mark Gould said was timely after a horrific road toll in the Rotorua district.

Five people have been killed on roads in the last two months while this time last year, there had been just one fatal crash in the Rotorua district.

By the end of 2018 that number was 11.