The 11th annual Bstreetsmart road safety forum
Students from Auburn Girls High School and Al-Faisal College were among the thousands of high school students at the annual Bstreetsmart road safety forum held at Sydney Olympic Park’s Qudos Bank Arena.
Firefighters from Lidcombe and Burwood stations joined paramedics and police officers to demonstrate, with graphic realism, the consequences of poor driving choices by re-enacting real-life examples of road crash scenarios.
Now in its 11th year, the three day event aims to empower young people to make healthier and safer choices before getting behind the wheel and also includes interactive displays, speaker sessions from road trauma survivors and presentations from experts.
Bstreetsmart co-founders and Westmead trauma nurses Stephanie Wilson and Julie Seggie said the forum had grown from just 460 students when it began in 2005, to 23,000 students from 191 schools registered this year.
Ms Wilson said they aimed to provide young people with a deeper understanding of the consequences of risky driving.
Opening the event, NSW Minister for Health Jillian Skinner said last year 56 young people aged 17-25 years lost their lives on NSW roads and this year an additional 28 were already gone well before their time.
“NSW is facing what can only be described as a state tragedy where young people make up almost 20 per cent of those killed on our roads this year,” she said. “These are not just numbers, they’re sons, daughters, brothers, sisters and mates – young people who will never return home to their families and friends.”
