Students from Kandos High School would be among more than 25,000 students across 200 schools to take part in the bstreetsmart program from their classrooms this week, with the annual road safety initiative having gone virtual in 2020.
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State member and Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, Paul Toole, said the program drives home the consequences of risk-taking on our roads, because young drivers from regional areas are too highly represented in the road toll.
"The bstreetsmart program teaches young drivers about the dangers of risky road behaviour in an interactive way to encourage them to make safer choices when they get behind the wheel," he said.
"The death of anyone on our roads is a tragedy, but when it's a young person with their whole life ahead of them, it is particularly heartbreaking.
"Between 2015 and 2019, 267 novice drivers died in crashes in NSW - and 184 of them were killed on country roads. We are doing everything we can to bring this number down, which is why the NSW Government has invested $30,000 so that these important messages can be delivered online this year."
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Bstreetsmart, which is in its 16th year, is the brainchild of Westmead Hospital trauma nurses Julie Seggie and Stephanie Wilson, and usually involves a real-life simulated crash scenario, interactive displays and presentations from road trauma survivors and family members at Qudos Bank Arena.
"We couldn't run the program as normal this year because of COVID-19, but we were determined to drive home the powerful messages the program brings, so we've taken it online," Ms Wilson said.
"It means even more kids from regional areas will be able to take part this year. We're really happy that even during a pandemic we're still able to get the message out about road safety in a way that remains powerful and thought provoking for the students."
Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning, Sarah Mitchell, said programs like bstreetsmart were an important part of the education students receive at school.
- For more information visit bstreetsmart.org/