Teen drivers told to stay alive

Pictured at Grafton High School are (from left) sponsors BCU Jessica Dawson, Paula Lawson and Natalie Craigie, Grafton High School students, Rotarian Arthur Seewald and driving instructor Angela Clark.

WITH young drivers representing an alarming 36 percent of road fatalities, Rotary has created a road safety education program and is this week bringing it to the Clarence Valley.

The Clarence Valley Rotary Youth Driver Awareness program will be held at the new Angourie road sports facility in Yamba this Thursday.

The one-day program aims to reduce death and injury of young people on our roads.

The course targets Year 10 and 11 students who are starting to drive or ride as passengers in vehicles driven by their peers.

It focuses on stopping distances, hazard perception, safe celebrating and fatigue, plus police talks and finance and insurance information.

Rotarian Arthur Seewald said he hoped participants would come away with new information and awareness.

“The day is geared to save people’s lives and give young drivers awareness of all that can happen,” he said.

“There are so many hidden dangers like driving at night, driving in the rain and common distractions that drivers need to acknowledge and be aware of.”

Local driving instructors, police, recovering survivors, and drug and alcohol educators will be there to drive the safety message home.

More than 100,000 students across Australia have already attended the course.

Tickets are $15 and this includes the six sessions, lunch and free bus travel from Market Square, Grafton. The bus leaves 9am and returns at 3pm. Call 0417 281 240 to book a place.

•  Young drivers represent around 36 per cent of annual road fatalities.
•  A 17-year-old driver with a P1 licence is four times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than a driver over 26 years old.
•  On average there are 512 deaths on the road each year, 210 of these are caused by speeding.
•  Drink driving is a factor in about 18 per cent of all fatal crashes in NSW and the figure is even higher (27%) in country areas.
•  One third of all drink drivers in fatal crashes are aged 17-24 years