Education and intervention programs for young drivers in a metropolitan Sydney community
Keywords: Education
ARSRPE
Submission Date: 2011
Abstract
Education and intervention programs for young drivers in a metropolitan Sydney community Ian Faulks – Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, David Tynan – Blacktown City Council & Milan Letinuca – Auburn City Council Three different education and intervention programs have been implemented for young drivers in the Blacktown community, in the western suburbs of metropolitan Sydney. These programs are designed and delivered with the expressed aim of ‘keeping young people out of trouble, and keeping your drivers licence’, rather than having a focus on safe driving as occurs in more typical driver education programs. The Under The Radar program, for pre-drivers intending to get their learners licence, focuses on the ways kids can drive and still keep their licence, using playback theatre to tap into what kids want to talk about and want to know, rather than traditional lectures and small group discussions. Practical demonstrations of policing technologies and emergency response are available to foster discussion and interaction. The Keeping Aboriginal Youth Safe (KAYS) project focuses on young indigenous people gaining the knowledge and skills needed to both obtain and keep their driving licences. The Traffic Offenders Program is for those who are already drivers and is based around providing young people with the knowledge, skills and capacity to understand the court process and to avoid losing their licence again (this is an accredited program under the NSW traffic offender intervention program legislation). The experience of delivering these programs, and the response of young people to these programs, will be discussed.