By Abbey Cannan
The first session for RYDA this year was held at the Rotary Driver Awareness Venue, formerly The House with No Steps at Fellowship Drive in Doonan last Friday.
The program was delayed due to the Covid-19 restrictions and the first session was kicked off with 121 St Andrews Anglian College Year 11 students and five teachers.
RYDA workshops are an out of school event where students are divided into groups on the day to attend six different sessions covering six awareness subjects.
The first subject is ‘Speed and Stopping’ where driving school instructors demonstrate the relationship between speed and stopping distance through practical observation.
The students then look at the road from the perspective of other road users and learn how to ‘Drive So Others Survive’.
Next, they have a reflective session designed to show how personality impacts risk on the road, where they learn how to analyse risk and to speak up.
A police officer then leads a discussion on key risk areas for young drivers and passengers, which features high impact videos on decision making and choices.
The students then have the unique opportunity to speak to a crash survivor about the event that changed their life.
Drawing from a true life story, students look at the role of mood as a risk factor, where they develop strategies to recognise and change harmful mind states.
After attending the program, a St Andrews Anglian College Year 11 student said the road safety excursion was by far one of best excursions she had ever been to.
“I have learnt so much and found today so interesting that I couldn’t wait to get home and tell my family about all that I learnt.”
The RYDA program is offered free of charge to all Year 10 and 11 students at local schools.
