With the annual schoolies event looming, high school students have been reminded of the importance of road safety.
The RACQ has re-enacted a car crash to show students the shocking reality of a road smash.
Elodie Boal has this report.
TRANSCRIPT
This is what a car crash sounds like.
More than fifty Saint Lawrence College students gathered at RACQ’s office in Eight Mile Plains to experience first hand what happens in a traumatic car crash.
Complete with ambulance officers, funeral directors, helicopters and actors, the docu-drama aimed to reinforce the importance of road safety.
These messages were driven home, not only by the reinactment, but through the attendance of witnesses and victims like Michael Forster.
He became a T3 paraplegic after a motorbike accident.
Michael Forster, Crash Victim: “I know how dramatically it’s changed my life, um, and when you’re 16, 17, 18 years of age, you haven’t even lived life yet.”
Alcohol, drugs, peer pressure and fatigue are the main causes of car accidents.
Students learnt not to let these factors persuade them into driving dangerously.
James Smith, Student: “I’m usually quite a careful driver anyway, so hopefully it will just reinforce it and be in the back of my mind.”
This dramatisation comes at a critical time, most of these students will soon be going for their licences and heading off to Schoolies.
Around 40 per cent of deaths in teenagers and young adults are as a result of trauma from a car crash.
Last year there were 63 fatalities as a result of crashes involving young drivers and riders. This represented 25.3 per cent of the Queensland toll.
The re-enactment is staged for 26 Brisbane and regional high schools each year.
It aims to leaving a lasting impression on drivers so they consider the responsibilities of being behind the wheel.
Barry Collis, Docu-Drama Coordinator: “You gotta keep trying, you can’t give up even though it gets frustrating at times, we say in road safety, you got to keep trying even though it gets pretty trying in the process.”
Elodie Boal, QUT News.