South East students empowered to be better road users

MFS spreading safety message


Article heading image for South East students empowered to be better road users

South East students from Mount Gambier High, St Martin’s Lutheran College, Grant High School, Tenison Woods College, School Millicent High School, and Kingston Community School will participate in the Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) Road Awareness Program (RAP) next week where they will be empowered to want to be generational changemakers in road safety.

MFS firefighters and road crash survivors present the positive, engaging and emotionally powerful road safety program to licence aged secondary school students across the state.

MFS Station Officer, Rod Campbell, said a key message of RAP is ‘people don’t care how much you show off, but they want you to show how much you care’.

MFS Station Officer Campbell said, “Students care greatly about their mates when it comes to road safety. After experiencing RAP, they’ll involve their friends in discussions about the power of positive and constructive peer pressure to eliminate dangerous driving behaviours.

“The students will learn that road crashes caused while driving fatigued account for approximately 30% of all regional road fatalities. The RAP team encourages students to identify options to address fatigue including sharing the driving with others in the vehicle. Alternatively, if they’re driving alone, they’ll recognise the benefits of pulling over to stop and rest.

“Choices made by road users are reflected in road crash statistics and these are not the sole domain of drivers. Passengers and pedestrians can and do play a significant role, too.

“RAP empowers passengers to speak up if they’re in a car where the driver is or other passengers are exhibiting dangerous behaviour and provides them with solutions to exit. No one should feel unsafe as a passenger in a vehicle,” said MFS Station Officer Campbell.

Joining MFS firefighters will be guest presenter and road crash survivor Yudhi Moham-Ram who will share his story. Yudhi was on a motorbike when he was hit by a P-Plater who ran a stop-sign. He spent 46 days in a coma and was given a 10% chance of survival.

Yudhi knows first-hand the consequences of risk-taking behaviour and encourages all students to not only care but show they care about other road users as they take to the road.

 

8 May 2017




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