Rotary holds youth driver safety courses for high school students

Rotary hosted its annual Youth Driver Awareness program (RYDA) at the Sapphire Coast Kart Club track from May 4-7.

Around 850 Year 11 students from high schools around the Bega Valley, Monaro, Eurobodalla and East Gippsland were hosted by Rotary club members of Bega, Merimbula/Pambula and helpers from Narooma.

"We run lots of youth programs and one of these really important programs we run is to help young students to become better drivers," said Bega club president Dorothea Polonyi.

Various workshops were held throughout the day, with talks from the local police about licences, demerit points and speeding, as well as outreach talks from car crash survivors and family members of victims.

Ruby Szoko from Narooma High School said she will go for her P1 driver's licence in June. The most prominent workshop for her involved a car suddenly braking at various speed limits, showing changes in stopping distances required.

"They got in the car and put out a fake dummy to represent a little child. How far it takes you to stop was a real eye opener for me because it actually showed the dummy under the car and how it would affect a child," she said.

"It really opened my eyes to everything that can actually go wrong on the road, especially when it's wet like today."

Student and learner driver Grace Reid from Carroll College in Broulee was also shocked by the demonstration involving speed and stopping distances.

"The fact that it quadruples depending on the speed increases, I didn't know any of that so having a visual representation was really good and it cemented the idea in my mind and now I know what it looks like."

RYDA has hosted an estimated 6000 students over 15 years Rotary Bega said.