Distance is no barrier for Education Team

For the first time, RACQ’s Education Team has travelled to the tip of Queensland to teach school students on Torres Strait islands about road and ferry safety.

This is the farthest north the team has travelled, delivering its award-winning road safety programs on Hammond, Horn and Thursday islands.

RACQ’s Education Manager Rhonda McKenzie said the Education Team had expanded its suite of school programs (including Streets Ahead, Driver IQ, Docudrama and Cash IQ) to more regional areas of the state than ever before.

“In the last financial year, we have taught more than 53,000 students across Queensland,” Mrs McKenzie said.

“We have reached students from Texas in the south up to the Torres Strait islands in the far north.

“We have also travelled north-west to Mornington Island, west to Winton and south-west to Thargomindah and Quilpie.

“Every day our team is empowering students in both primary and secondary grades to make better and informed choices as road users.

“Our mission is to teach ‘all and often’ to give every student an equal opportunity to learn about road safety, regardless of location.”

RACQ Education Specialist Janelle Baker with students at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School's Thursday Island campus. 

While the programs are designed to educate students on how to be safe drivers, passengers, riders and pedestrians, the team has been able to specifically modify these to better suit students who live in regional towns.

“We understand that young Queenslanders face different geographic and socio-economic environments, which is why we are flexible with our education strategies,” Mrs McKenzie said.

“When we teach in regional and remote locations, we are responsive to the students’ needs – teaching them about safe riding, which can extend to dirt bikes, quad bikes and horses.

“We have also introduced education on ferry, boat and dinghy safety for students living on our islands where water is their main form of transport.”

The team has also successfully trialled the RACQ Docudrama Virtual Classroom, designed to teach high school students about road safety topics (including the Fatal Five) online.

“All children, adolescents and young people across Queensland are vulnerable road users who need support, guidance and skills to make decisions that will keep them safe on and around the road,” Mrs McKenzie said.

“The creation of these online resources will revolutionise the scope of what our Education team can accomplish in the road safety and education space.

“Distance is no barrier for us, we can now teach anywhere in the state.

“None of this important work would be possible without the support of our RACQ members and the funding we receive from a Department of Transport and Main Roads Community Road Safety Education Grant.”