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Spreading the word on road safety

Bega Valley Shire’s Youth Council is helping to spread the word on one of the most important issues facing young people today: road safety. Youth Councillors, working in conjunction with local organisations including Auswide Projects and the Far South Coast Community College, have used a $10,000 grant from the Motor Accidents Authority (MAA) to produce a road safety film using local actors.

The film – ‘A Drive in the Country’ – was screened for the first time in November last year as a non competitive entry in the South East Film Festival and will be used as an ongoing resource for organisations dealing with road safety. It has also been used as the basis for a series of television and radio advertisements and posters designed to raise awareness of road safety issues among young people.

Youth Councillor, Katrina Gallimore, said young people had been involved in every aspect of the project including writing, acting and production.

Local ‘identities’ were encouraged to participate in the film as actors to ensure the messages contained within would be taken up more rapidly by the viewing audience.

The Youth Council has been very active in the area of road safety since being established in 2002. One of its initiatives, a ‘Summer Bus’ service, was introduced in December 2003 in a bid to reduce the number of young people resorting to risky behaviours such as drink driving and drink walking to get from one location to another during the busy December/January holiday period. The service was recently recognised with certificates of achievement in the ‘Youth’ and ‘Local Council’ categories of the NSW/ACT Community Enterprise Awards.

Youth Councillor, Beau Geekie, described the Summer Bus as a safe, simple and secure transport alternative late at night when the need is greatest and when large numbers of people – young people in particular – want to travel from town to town.

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