By JESSE GRAHAM
YOUNG drivers will be able to hear about road trauma from those who witness it first-hand in a forum later this month which aims to give realistic advice for getting behind the wheel.
Teenagers will pack into Mount Lilydale Mercy College’s auditorium, on Wednesday 23 March, for a road safety forum, being organised by Roadwhyz Victoria, along with Casey MP Tony Smith.
Roadwhyz Victoria director, paramedic and Yarra Ranges mayor Jason Callanan said it give young adults a blow-by-blow account of what happened in a road crash, from those who responded to them.
“As a paramedic, I’ll stand up and explain to them the science of road trauma – what happens when you suddenly stop,” he said.
“We talk about the science … and understand what happens inside your body and what goes through a paramedic’s or doctor’s mind when someone’s been involved in road trauma.”
From there, a nurse will talk the attendees through the emergency room and what happens to road crash arrivals.
“We’ll show them the tools, we’ll hand them around – this is what goes into your chest, this is what goes down your throat, and give them an understanding … about what happens behind those curtains,” Cr Callanan said.
A Highway Patrol officer will then talk about policing the roads and talk through call-outs he has attended, and how police track down people posting hoon videos on social media.
Cr Callanan said the event will not be a lecture to young people, scolding them for bad behaviour, but rather an attempt to put safe driving decisions into their hands.
“I say to them, ‘I’m not here to tell you off, I’m not here to point a finger at you and say ‘you’re doing the wrong thing’, we all know you’re going to go out there and experiment, but here’s what can happen if things go wrong’,” he said.
“We don’t just put up crashes and pictures of dead bodies and say, ‘This is what happens when you speed, deal with it’ – I’ll explain why are they the highest risk, how can they recognise those situations.”
Cr Callanan and Mr Smith said the forum came about after a number of serious fatalities in the area last year involving young people, in Mount Evelyn, Yarra Glen and Avonsleigh.
Mr Smith will MC the evening, and said that hearing from emergency services members would help to drive the message home.
“It’s not me telling them, or a teacher telling them … it’s not an opinion – it’s fact,” he said.
The night will focus on the most at-risk groups on the road – 18 to 25 year olds, and those about to hit the roads for the first time, and ‘high risk’ driver behaviours.
Cr Callanan said that high risk behaviour wasn’t limited to speeding or drinking and driving, but can be using a mobile phone while driving, or just driving while fatigued.
He said that road trauma extended further than people killed on the roads, but also those who spend months in intensive care and spend the rest of their lives disabled as a result of crashes.
“We all know you’re going to go out there and experiment, but here’s what can happen if things go wrong…” – Jason Callanan
An example of this, he said, was a two-door sedan with eight people inside crashing – all of the occupants survived, but the driver, who was on her learner’s permit, is now cared for in a nursing home.
“Although we harp on about the road toll, we don’t explain that it’s four-or-five-fold with serious injuries,” he said.
“Unfortunately, a bigger burden on our health system, our emergency services and our health services alike are those that stay in ICU and have permanent disability for the rest of their lives.”
Attendees at the event will also have the chance to look at displays before and after the presentation, and Cr Callanan said the presenters would try and give tips and skills for when involved in or being at the scene of a crash.
“We don’t just give them memories, we also try and give them a skill they can take away – CPR practice, or what to do at a crash if you come across one,” he said.
“What can you do to potentially save a life? A lot of people want to help, but they don’t know what to do, and they keep driving.”
The event will begin at 5.30pm for a 6pm start at Mount Lilydale Mercy College, on Wednesday 23 March, and attendance is free.
For more information, email info@roadwhyzvic.com.au or call 0408 365 235.
