Last week eighty Tec-NQ students in years 10 and 11, participated in the Safer Driving Skills Workshops onsite at Townsville’s DriveIT NQ, motorsport precinct. Funded by QYS (Queensland Youth Services) through their LearnIT driver training program, the four, one-day workshops exposed students to everything you need to know about road safety.
With driver experiences including stopping distances in wet and dry conditions, comparisons of different vehicle stability and stopping ability, truck safety awareness, and the effect of drugs and alcohol on driving. Tec-NQ Deputy Principal Michael Hegarty jumped at the opportunity to expose students to important skills as they begin to hit the road for the first time.
“We’ve worked with the LearnIT team for many years, when they approached us to run driver safety workshops for our students, we knew there was no better team to deliver these valuable life skills to our vulnerable and impressionable young drivers.” Michael said.
“We released an expression of interest to our families and within 24 hours had more than double the applicants we needed to fill the available places, so our families clearly see the value here too!” he added.
The program also saw representatives from the Queensland Police Services and the Race X Team who presented eye opening facts on the importance of safe driving from their day to day experience in the field.
Road safety statistics in Australia clearly indicate alarmingly high mortality rates among young drivers. To address this issue, we believe that education and experiential mentoring are key factors for improvement. Shockingly, young drivers account for 25% of all road deaths and are involved in 40% of road crashes. The funding for LearnIT program is supported by Queensland Transport and Main Roads through the Community Road Safety Education grants.
Murray Holm, Road Safety Program Facilitator from LearnIT, has decades of experience in mentoring young drivers and hears stories daily that highlight the importance of this support. “Driver confidence leads to better mental health, employability, and independence for young people. Ensuring they can gain vital skills and carve a future that is safe and sustainable”.