That was the key message of the recent RAC bstreetsmart event attended by our Carramar Year 10 and 11 students as well as 15, 000 high school students from 140 Perth schools who witnessed the tragedy and life-changing consequences of distracted driving with the help of WA’s emergency services.
The event included a live crash scene re-enactment attended by real-life paramedics, police and firefighters who had to use the jaws of life to remove the roof of the vehicle to enable the ‘victim’ to be safely evacuated.
Our students were taken aback by the very format of the day.
“I just thought it was going to be a lecture,” said Year 11 Lilly Belton.
Kyra Bartels, also from Year 11, was amazed to see actual emergency services teams there. “I thought they would just talk about what emergency services do, but actually seeing it had a bigger effect on me.”
“I was the same,” said her classmate Samara Flanagan, “I just expected the basic facts. Having the emergency services and making it real meant it had a big impact.”
“I thought it would be a little bit of information about road crashes. I didn’t realise how practical and confronting it would be. It was really impactful,” said Luke Shirdon.
Students also heard from Rob Pike who gave a personal account of the horrific accident he was in when he was just 17, where he lost both his legs and his two best mates. By simply walking onto the stage using his two prosthetic legs, Rob had a huge impact on everyone present.
“Rob’s story was about a simple mistake of not driving to weather conditions. It felt like it was something that could happen to me,” said Luke.
Kyra found Rob’s story equally impactful. “You hear on the news about crashes happening, but you never hear about them again or know what’s happened so when you heard Rob speak and saw the physical trauma he’s had it gave me a deeper understanding of how damaging car crashes can be and how it can affect people’s lives for ever.”
The re-enactment saw WA Police arrive in vehicles, followed by two St John WA ambulances and then a DFES fire truck. It was incredibly moving to see how positively the crowd responded to the emergency services staff, giving them each a round of applause as they arrived and went about their usual roles at a serious road traffic accident.
“It was amazing that they took time out to be there,” said Kyra. “The fact they were there showed how much they wanted to teach us. I never realised how long the process was to get someone out of a car after an accident!”
While the event was clearly created to have maximum impact in the moment, in the de-brief back at school it was positive to hear that the students had some hard-hitting takeaway messages from their experience.
Luke observed “When you’re driving, you’re always at risk, so at all times you really need to be doing the right thing. There was also some good information about what to do if you ever see a crash, like not removing the helmet from a motorcyclist who’s been in an accident.”
“Your actions can affect the people around you whether you know them or not. The decisions you make when you get in the car can impact your whole life,” said Samara.
Lilly observed “When you’re driving you have to keep yourself safe but you’re also responsible to keep the other people you’re with safe, too.”
