ABC Online: School leavers get graphic road safety message

A serious road accident can change your life forever, in an instant. That message was graphically delivered to Bundaberg State High School students last week when a simulated drink-driving accident was staged on the school oval. Young actors took on the roles of the driver and passengers, and also playing their part were the emergency services - police, fire and ambulance officers attended the crash scene, and the rescue helicopter was scheduled to take part but unavailable due to a real life emergency.

The event is one of many “docu-dramas” staged by Education Queensland in recent years. Bundaberg High’s school based police offer Terry Farrell said the exercise was to remind their Year 12 students to be responsible behind the wheel as as the silly season and the end of the school year approaches.

“Docu-drama is a program designed to have an impact on young school leavers,” Senior Constable Farrell explained. “It’s a high risk time, they’re free, they’ve finished 12 years of school, there are all these temptations to engage in risky behaviour.”

Senior Constable Farrell said the docu-dramas were a more effective way of teaching road safety than simply speaking to students.

“We can stand in a classroom and talk, but actually seeing something enacted in front of you, particularly when you’ve got actoprs who are roleplaying these persons with mock injuries, it really has a big impact. It’s a re-enactment of a fatal crash involving all the emergency services; fire, police and ambulance, funeral directors will be taking away the deceased person - it does have a real impact on young people, emotionally as well as visually.”

As well as the emergency services, students also had a change to meet the kind of people you’ll have to deal with if you’ve been involved in a serious accident, such as laywers, doctors, even a funeral director. They also had a chance to meet people who have lived through a serious accidnet; people like Kevin Delaney.

“I was a competitive road cyclist,” Mr Delaney said, “and I was out training one day and this car was tailgating another car, went to overtake, and hit me head on doing 130km an hour. I was thrown 20 metres from the crash site, and I was pronounced dead on the ambulance’s arrival. I was in a coma for two weeks, spent eight months in hospital and had over a hundred broken bones.

“I actually lost a quarter of my brain - so I’ve lost 37 years of my memory. I can’t remember getting married, fathering two children; all that’s gone now.

“I was told I’d never ride a pushbike again in my life, but since then I have ridden again. It’s hard to think it’d be back on a bike after so many injuries, but because I can’t remember the accident, it doesn’t really worry me that much at all. I’m living in pain 24 hours a day, but riding a bike is something I enjoy doing, and I’m back doing it again.”

Mr Delaney also now works to educate others of the possible consequences of road accidents.

“It opens your eyes to what can happen in accidents, and you try to bring that to other people’s awareness - not just kids, but every driver needs to be aware of cyclicsts, motorcycle riders, pedestrians - it can certainly change your life big time.”