The RYDA programme was first introduced to the Bay of Plenty in 2019, by Tauranga Te Papa, Tauranga and Papamoa Rotary Clubs, in conjunction with Road Safety Education New Zealand, who provide the trained facilitators. The first of this year’s programmes was successfully run earlier this year in Tauranga, for approximately 300 year 12 students from Mt Maunganui College.
Following very favourable feedback from teachers and students involved in last year's, the programme was then offered to six other Colleges from Waihi to Tauranga during 2020 resulting in three extra courses in March.
Each day’s programme contains six separate interactive seminars designed to raise awareness of road safety among the students as they begin their ‘driving lives’. Students are divided in to groups with volunteers from Rotary Clubs assisting to ensure the students get the most out of this programme.
Each 30-minute Seminar deals with issues such as:
- The ‘I’ in Drive - Focusing on knowing yourself, self-control, thinking social, risk awareness and speaking up. Helping students creating usable strategies for each category.
- Mind Matters - Focusing on the driver’s mind state when driving and how it positively / negatively can affect their driving.
- Road Choices - Discussing licences and options, making the right choices when behind the wheel, consequences of bad choices, lack of sleep, alcohol, drugs.
- Speed and Safety - Car safety features, stopping distances and following distances
- Drive SOS - Keeping others safe on the road (peripheral vision, blind spots, and distractions)
- Crash Investigations - (identifying the factors that impact on crash outcomes)
In total we will have over 1000 students attend this year, resulting in greater awareness as they begin to drive vehicles.
