Road safety education revamped

Friday, 1 March 2024

Road safety education in South Australian public schools will be revamped to ensure students are provided with the right information to help them make safe decisions when on the road.

The Minister for Education, Training and Skills asked for a review of school safety programs following a number of high-profile road incidents involving young people.

The Education Department is strengthening road safety information through the curriculum as well as collaborating with key stakeholders, including teachers and students and other agencies in the area of road safety, such as the Department for
Infrastructure and Transport, the Metropolitan Fire Service, and South Australia Police.

As part of a multi-agency effort made possible through funding from the State Government’s Think! Road Safety Program, two vital road safety programs have been expanded to ensure greater reach of road safety education in South Australia.

The MFS’s Road Awareness Program (RAP), a program delivered by specially trained firefighters to young drivers, has received a boost and will deliver presentations to more than 150 schools and community clubs across metropolitan Adelaide and regional South Australia.

This includes 55 sessions across regional and outback South Australia, the largest number of sessions delivered to the regions.

Central Adelaide Local Health Network’s Prevent Alcohol and Risk Related Trauma in Youth (P.A.R.T.Y) program has also been expanded to deliver 24 sessions to schools in Ceduna, Port Pirie, Mount Gambier, Port Lincoln, the Riverland and the
Barossa Valley.

Both programs give secondary students a confronting insight into road crash trauma in a bid to change their behaviours on the road and their attitudes to road safety.

Statistics show that road crashes are one of the major causes of death and serious injury for 16-24-year-olds in South Australia while trauma is responsible for over 40 per cent of deaths in the 15–25-year-old age group across Australia.

Delivering these important partnerships forms part of the South Australian Road Safety Action Plan 2023-25.