{"id":34126,"date":"2025-08-06T01:00:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T15:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=34126"},"modified":"2025-08-06T01:00:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T15:00:26","slug":"teens-to-get-reality-check-behind-the-wheel-at-australias-largest-road-safety-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2025\/08\/06\/teens-to-get-reality-check-behind-the-wheel-at-australias-largest-road-safety-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Teens to get reality check behind the wheel at Australia\u2019s largest road safety event"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>More than 28,600 NSW high school students will be taken from the classroom to crash scenes at Australia&#8217;s largest road safety event, bstreetsmart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now in its 21st year, the event continues to help educate young people about the responsibilities and potential risks of being a passenger and getting behind the wheel through an engaging, eye-opening experience focusing on awareness and choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The students aged from 16 to 18 years old, from 221 schools, will observe first-hand the consequences of a road crash, as they participate in the captivating education event at Sydney Olympic Park, from 5 to 7 August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Founded in 2004, bstreetsmart is the brainchild of Westmead Hospital trauma nurses Julie Seggie and Stephanie Wilson. Their events have become well-known and respected for its real-life simulated crash scenarios and personal testimonials, which aim to help educate the next generation of drivers in NSW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2024, young adults aged between 17\u201325 years old represented just 13 percent of all licence holders but accounted for 20 percent of all drivers and riders involved in fatal crashes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In its inaugural year, bstreetsmart hosted 10 schools and was attended by 464 students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Approximately 300,000 NSW high school students have attended bstreetsmart during its history, helping educate them to make safer choices on the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Transport for NSW has supported the event since 2015 and is contributing $310,000 to this year&#8217;s program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information, visit&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bstreetsmart.org\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">www.bstreetsmart.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Minister for Health, Ryan Park:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI am incredibly proud of this program created in Western Sydney that has been educating our young people on road safety for more than two decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cbstreetsmart truly is a one-of-a-kind road safety program for our teens and will have a lasting impact in helping to reduce the overrepresentation of young drivers in traumatic road accidents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism, Yasmin Catley:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTragically, this year we have seen more than 200 people lose their lives on NSW roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s more than 200 individuals taken too soon, countless families destroyed and communities impacted forever. If we want to see a change in these numbers, then it\u2019s driver behaviour that must change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis program teaches students early that they have a responsibility to themselves, their passengers and everyone else on the road every time they get behind the wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Minister for Roads, Jenny Aitchison:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cbstreetsmart is a great program to remind and encourage young people to make safe decisions on our roads so everyone can return home safely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLearning to drive is an exciting time for young people, but driving is a privilege that comes with responsibilities and can have devastating consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>the Member for Parramatta, Donna Davis:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWith road crashes being a leading cause of death and serious injury among young people, bstreetsmart aims to educate and empower them to make safer choices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Westmead Hospital Trauma Nurse, Julie Seggie:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs a nurse I am passionate about wanting to keep our youth out of our trauma units and this program empowers students to make safer choices as drivers and passengers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cbstreetsmart uses interactive experiences, real-life crash survivor stories, and engaging content to deliver a powerful learning experience\u2014building a safer future for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NSW Ambulance Chief Executive Dr Dominic Morgan:\u202f<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur frontline teams, the NSW Ambulance clinicians working on the road and in the air &#8211; along with our dedicated control centre staff experience firsthand the devastating impact of motor vehicle crashes far too often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNSW Ambulance is proud to support bstreetsmart, an essential program empowering young people to reduce the tragic toll of road trauma in our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than 28,600 NSW high school students will be taken from the classroom to crash scenes at Australia&#8217;s largest road safety event, bstreetsmart. Now in its 21st year, the event continues to help educate young people about the responsibilities and potential risks of being a passenger and getting behind the wheel through an engaging, eye-opening &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2025\/08\/06\/teens-to-get-reality-check-behind-the-wheel-at-australias-largest-road-safety-event\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Teens to get reality check behind the wheel at Australia\u2019s largest road safety event&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34126"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34127,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34126\/revisions\/34127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}