Fire and Rescue NSW delivers car crash simulations to ‘drive home’ safety lessons for teenagers - VIDEO - NSW
Published: 24 Aug 2023 11:50am
Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) and its emergency services partners have jolted thousands of teenagers into being smarter and safer drivers, staging confronting car crash simulations to press home the potential consequences of poor decisions behind the wheel.
The realistic demonstrations have formed part of the three-day ‘bstreetsmart’ event, an initiative of the Trauma Service at Westmead Hospital, held at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney’s west.
It is aimed at reducing the fatality and injury rates among young people on our roads.
The demos begin with the audience, comprising 16 to 18 year olds, being shown a video with a number of young people inside a moving car and discussing a party they had just attended.
The driver is heard saying he’s fine to drive despite having drank alcohol, before one of his passengers is seen unclipping her seatbelt to show him a text message she received.
The dangerous antics result in a ‘fatal’ crash with a bike before a dramatic rescue operation plays out on-stage involving firefighters and other first-responders.
The mock scenario involves FRNSW crews using hydraulic tools to cut ‘trapped passengers’ from the vehicles as paramedics treat the injured; police interview witnesses, inspect the scene and subsequently arrest the driver; and an undertaker removes the body of the deceased.
The entire production is narrated and embedded with life-saving lessons for the students.
The ‘bstreetsmart’ event has also included moving presentations from Melissa McGuinness, whose son Jordan and four other people were killed in a car crash in Queensland in 2012.
Jordan had been speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol. The students also gained unique insights from a spinal injury patient, brain injury experts and a learner driver instructor.
FRNSW Acting Assistant Commissioner – Community Safety, Dave Felton, highlighted that people aged 15 to 30 are disproportionally represented in road trauma.
“The ‘bstreetsmart’ initiative is critical to developing good drivers, riders and passengers, as it demonstrates to young people how quickly and easily things can go wrong on our roads,” Acting Assistant Commissioner Felton said.
“The crash simulations are shocking, but they’re designed to be, because too many young people ignore other road safety messaging and aren’t alert to the dangers.
“Fire and Rescue NSW is proud to be involved with ‘bstreetsmart’ and it’s extraordinary to think how many lives have likely been saved as a result of the lessons this program has been rolling out over the past two decades.”
For more information, visit https://bstreetsmart.org/ or https [external link]://onthemove.nsw.edu.au/
EDITOR'S NOTE: Video footage of the car crash simulation, involving FRNSW, is available for download - https://vimeo.com/857341674/55e6542af3 [external link]
Updated: 24 Aug 2023 11:54am
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