The 11th very real, and at times confronting mock crash demonstration held at the Parkes High School last week once again brought home a very important message to about 500 students from three shires.
The mock crash demonstration, aimed at Year 10 students from the Forbes, Parkes and Lachlan shires, shows a realistic scenario
involving a single vehicle accident and response by emergency services. It aims to improve the attitudes and behaviours of young drivers and passengers as particularly red P platers are over represented in crash statistics across the State.
“Locally, a 27% reduction has been recorded in crashes involving young drivers since the program commenced 11 years ago,” said Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Councils’ Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer, Belinda Coe.
“We work in partnership with NSW Police, SES, and Ambulance NSW to bring home this important message.”
Central West Police District Crime Prevention Officer, Senior Constable Daniel Greef, said: “It’s vitally important to make these scenarios as realistic as possible because we want to show the young people what actually happens on roads.”
“We based this scenario off actual crashes which have happened involving young people in this area over the years.”
The demonstration starts with establishing scenes to introduce the four characters played by high school students, including Krystle-Lee McMurray from Forbes. The mock crash scenario is set up telling the audience what led to the crash, and then there is a full emergency response.
By Maggi Barnard