We are all aware of the dangers young drivers face when they first get their licence and know the terrible feeling when we hear of fatal accidents in our region.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Rotary Youth Driver Awareness (RYDA), part of Road Safety Education Australia, is widely recognised as an initiative that helps to reduce the road toll among youth across Australia and New Zealand.
Running RYDA each year is a major task undertaken by a committee of the joint Illawarra Rotary Clubs with West Wollongong Youth Director as Chairperson.
The program is offered to years 10 and 11 students, who are bussed in from school on their scheduled day for a full day.
To accommodate all the local high schools, RYDA runs here over a couple of weeks each year at the Kembla Grange Racecourse.
Each year over 1700 students have attended the program here in the Illawarra from high schools from Bulli to Kiama.
Each day there are six interactive sessions given to students by experts, where the attitudes and perceptions of students are challenged to think a little differently about driving.
Our Rotary Club, West Wollongong, has been a leader of Illawarra RYDA, giving our time as volunteers organising and running the RYDA program since 2005.
For many years RYDA was sponsored by BHP whose contribution paid for the venue. When BHP moved on the Rotary clubs struggled to make up this contribution.
This year West Wollongong Rotary club applied for a grant from the IBM Foundation on behalf of the Illawarra RYDA committee and this has made such a difference.
The presentation of the IMB grants took place on June 27, 2018 and RYDA Illawarra was among the many worthy recipients.
Our RYDA grant was accepted by President Helen Hasan, and Directors Ken Potter and Marilyn Philips from West Wollongong Rotary
The Rotary Clubs of the Illawarra, are most grateful to the IMB Community Foundation for providing essential support to keep this life-saving program going.
If RYDA can cause a young person to think a little differently in a risky situation and possibly avoid a crash, our efforts will have been worth it.
More info: email westwollongongrotary@gmail.com.