Senior high school students will be challenged to change the way they think about road safety as part of a new program being rolled out by Leeton Shire Council.
The Rotary Youth Driver Awareness (RYDA) one-day program will be run at Leeton’s Yanco Agricultural Institute from 21 – 24 February.
The Rotary Clubs of Leeton and Leeton Central are continuing their partnership with industry leader Road Safety Education Limited (RSE) to bring the award-winning youth road safety program to Year 11 students from 15 high schools across the region.
RYDA is a highly engaging road safety education program which has been available since 2001 and has seen over 600,000 students attend the workshop across Australia and New Zealand.
The workshop content has been developed according to best practice guidelines for road safety education in consultation with road safety experts, professional bodies, government and the educational sector, incorporating the latest available research.
RYDA facilitators to lead the Leeton workshops include NSW Police Officers, Leeton Shire Council road safety officers, driver trainers and crash survivors.
“Whether you’re driving or travelling with friends, every young person contributes to the safety of the road users around them. RYDA allows students to access the tools and strategies required to make good choices from any seat in the car,” said Leeton Shire Council’s road safety officer, Steph Puntoriero.
Leeton’s RYDA program is held at Yanco Agricultural Institute annually and over 5,000 students have participated in the program since its inception in 2008. The 2023 workshops are already proving to be a hit with over 450 student registrations recorded. Students are attending from far and wide, including Leeton, Yanco, Narrandera, Griffith, Hay, Ardlethan, Barellan, Coleambally, Hillston, Lockhart, Ariah Park and Oaklands.
“We are very excited to be offering the program to local students and students from other areas of the Riverina with some travelling several hours to attend our well organised event,” said Leeton Central Rotary Club member, David Lang.
RYDA is made possible through the support of RSE’s corporate partners BOC, Toyota, Bridgestone, MTAA Super and Boral. Locally, RYDA is supported by the NSW Police Force through Murrumbidgee Police District, NSW Police Youth Command, Murrumbidgee Traffic and Highway Patrol Command as well as Leeton Shire Council, Narrandera Shire Council and the Yanco Agricultural Institute
