For the second year running, our people have supported National Road Safety Week as part of our commitment to Zero Harm.
Thank you to Boral drivers Garey Mitchell, Matt Boenke, and Laksh Virmani who joined students from Melbourne, Townsville and Sydney in the May RYDA road safety program events.
RYDA is a professionally developed road safety initiative by not-for-profit Road Safety Education Limited (RSE). The sessions give young people tools, habits and behaviours to help them stay safe on roads as both drivers and passengers. More than 735,000 young people in Australia and New Zealand have participated in the RYDA program so far with support from Boral and other corporate partners. The workshops aim to increase road and heavy vehicle awareness and safety for young people.
Garey, Matt and Laksh attended the workshops to help students understand the risks and considerations when sharing the road with trucks. The drivers shared their experiences operating trucks and allowed the young people to jump into the cabin to learn first-hand about truck blind spots and stopping speeds. We thank our NSW and VIC metro concrete, and Qld regional teams for allowing our people and heavy vehicles to be part of these events.
Tim Richards, Executive General Manager, Asphalt, said: “Boral, as one of the largest suppliers of construction materials in the country, has a large heavy vehicle footprint to support deliveries for our customers around Australia. Our commitment to road safety and Zero Harm starts with our own safety procedures and extends to educating drivers we share the road with.
“We are proud to continue Boral’s support of the RYDA program and National Road Safety Week. It is essential to educate young drivers and equip them with the tools they need to stay safe on the road. For us, this involves getting students up close to one of our trucks to see the road from a new perspective.”
Every year, the RYDA program reaches approximately 40,000 students and contributes towards saving young people’s lives on the road.
Terry Birss, CEO/Managing Director of RSE Australia said: “We need to do more than just teach a young person the skill of controlling and manoeuvring a vehicle. We must also equip them with the skill of critical thinking and appreciation for safety on shared roads.
“Having Boral drivers involved helps us continue delivering these educational experiences. We’re not only raising awareness of road safety but contributing to a reduction in road trauma – in short, helping to save young lives and reduce serious injury on our roads.”
“Playing an active role in our partnership with Road Safety Education is a great experience for us and potentially lifechanging lesson for the next generation of drivers.”
Tim Richards, EGM Asphalt
Did you know?
- Every year, approximately 1,200 people are killed and another 40,000-plus are seriously injured on Australian roads.
- Traffic injury is the biggest killer of Australian children under 15 and the second-biggest killer of Australians aged between 15 and 24.
- National Road Safety Week aims to highlight the impact of road trauma and ways to reduce it and is supported by governments, charities and businesses across Australia including Boral.