Year 12 students from Ashburton College received a talk from Constable Fran Clark as part of their road safety education day on Friday. Photo Jaime Pitt-MacKayA focus on keeping themselves and their friends safe was a big focus for Year 12 Ashburton College students at their annual road safety education day on Friday.

It was the second year the students have been through the RYDA course (Rotary Youth Driver Awareness), which is run by Road Safety Education.

The course takes the students through six different sections, including talks and lessons from police and crash survivors.

Programme co-ordinator Naomh Casin said the course takes an evidence-based approach to educating the students about how to be safe on the roads.

“The idea is to show them and to get them thinking ‘these are my life choices’,” she said.

“It is also about teaching them to be good passengers and being confident to speak up when they do not feel safe.”

The students went through the six stations, which are 30 minutes long, covering off a variety of topics.

“We get the police in to talk about the protective role that they have,” she said.

“We also have a crash survivor that will come and talk to the students.”

The students, using skills they have learned from a previous discussion on safe systems, then have to investigate the crash to determine what happened and the crash survivor tells their story in line with that process.

“We also talk to them about personalities and mood, whether someone is risk prone or risk averse, and what effects being angry or sad have on their driving,” she said.

Casin said students would often go home and correct their parents on the errors that they make.

“The main goal is that they come away with a strategy to keep themselves and their friends safe,” she said.

Ashburton College teacher Claire Bubb said it was the second year students from the college had attended the course, and that they had a good impact on them.

By Jaime Pitt-MacKay © The Ashburton Guardian - 22 June 2019