An insurer-backed national road safety program has been rolled out to help reduce road trauma.
Keys2drive, which is funded by the federal government and supported by motoring services and insurance provider RAA, now offers free driving lessons as well as free advice on the importance of driving the safest car learners and parents can afford, based on vehicle safety ratings.
Ben Haythorpe, RAA’s senior manager for community engagement, said Keys2drive has been offering a free, one-hour driving lesson by a qualified instructor to a learner driver and their parent or supervisor to improve their road safety skills since 2009.
“Keys2drive aims to prevent death and injury of young drivers, especially those on their first six-months of P-plate driving,’’ he said. “This will be enhanced, as the driving instructors will now also pass on key messages to learners and their supervisors about car safety. Following the Keys2drive lesson, learners and supervisors will receive a link to a short RAA-produced video, which is aimed at reinforcing key messages from the lesson.”
Latest state government figures showed that an average 83 drivers under the age of 25 were killed or seriously injured on South Australian roads each year between 2013 and 2017. Once a young driver gains their P-plates, their crash risk increases 20–30 times.
“Younger drivers face a double vulnerability on our roads, as they generally drive older, less safe vehicles and are the most inexperienced,” said James Goodwin, ANCAP chief executive. “ANCAP research shows vehicles older than 15 years are involved in 36% of fatal crashes compared with newer vehicles which are involved in far fewer at 12%. Vehicle choice is an extremely important consideration for any new driver, and we encourage learners and parents alike to check the ANCAP safety rating of the car they will be driving to make sure it is the safest choice.’’
Visit the Keys2Drive website to register for a free lesson.
