Powerful road safety program drives message home to school students

More schools than ever are receiving vital road safety education with the State Government running important training programs to teach students the dangers of driving and how to be responsible on the road.

The Prevent Alcohol and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth (P.A.R.T.Y.) Program is a unique injury prevention initiative, led by Central Adelaide Local Health Network, designed to get high school students thinking about the consequences of risky decision-making.

This year the immersive and interactive program will be delivered to more than 2000 students across South Australia, including 70 metropolitan sessions and 30 regional sessions.

Road crashes are one of the major causes of death for 15 to 24 year olds in the state. Between 2019 and 2023, an average of 19 people aged 16 to 24 lost their life on South Australian roads each year, while 148 were seriously injured.

Young people living in regional or remote areas were more than twice as likely to lose their life or be seriously injured in a crash compared with Adelaide residents.

To address the over-representation of young people in road crashes, students who undertake the program follow the journey of a trauma patient through the emergency department and ICU, meeting healthcare professionals and emergency services along the way.

Students also meet community members who have survived a crash, like Najee AI-Sarawi who was involved in a near-fatal motorcycle accident when he was T-boned by a ute in North Adelaide. Najee was given a 10 per cent chance of survival and underwent 17 surgeries, including multiple open-heart operations and two world-first heart procedures.

Najee is one of several dedicated Trauma Ambassadors who share their story with students, giving them a unique insight into the real-world consequences of trauma and the physical, emotional and social costs associated with risky and dangerous behaviours like impaired driving, inattention and speeding.

The P.A.R.T.Y Program is delivered across South Australia’s three major trauma hospitals – the Royal Adelaide Hospital, Flinders Medical Centre and Lyell McEwin Hospital – as well as at schools in rural and remote regions. Since its launch in 2014, the program has reached more than 7,000 students.

Quotes

Attributable to Stephen Mullighan

The aim of this powerful program is to help young South Australians understand that one poor decision on our roads can change their life forever and have a lasting impact on everyone around them.

Between 2019 and 2023, young drivers and riders aged 16 to 24 accounted for 19 per cent of all lives lost and seriously injured in South Australia.
It’s important we continue to drive home these road safety messages with more students than ever getting an insight into lifelong impact risky behaviour and poor choices can have on the community.

Attributable to Blair Boyer

We want to do everything we can to inform the next generation of road users on the impact their decision making can have which will in turn improve the health and safety of our communities.

The power of the program is in its realness. This is a one-day experience that sticks with young people long after they leave the hospital.

The program is a unique opportunity for young people to see firsthand the consequences of risky behaviour.

Attributable to Najee Al-Sarawi, Trauma Ambassador

Every choice on the road is a life in the balance.

If my story can stop one crash, it’s worth telling a thousand times.

Surviving was one thing. Seeing what it did to my loved ones was another.

My friends and family lived every second of that nightmare with me.