FOUR local schools were recently visited by two MFS Road Awareness Program (RAP) members, who urged students to make positive choices on the road to avoid becoming another statistic.
Adelaide road crash survivor Eli Murn and Mount Gambier MFS firefighter Ian Borchard visited Glossop, Loxton, Waikerie, and Renmark High Schools last week for a presentation on road safety.
RAP focuses on the role of all road users, encouraging and empowering students to “speak up against selfish behaviour”.
Glossop High School year 11 student Ellie Ambaras said she found the presentation to be “beneficial and effective”.
“I just got my learner’s permit and after listening to Ian and Eli’s talk and watching some of the clips, it’s made me think twice about road rules,” Ellie said.
“Listening to Eli talk about his experience was so real and I think it was a wake-up call to us all.”
Mr Murn, 41, who lives with ongoing mobility and memory issues associated with his acquired brain injury, described giving the presentation as “bittersweet”.
“I’ve been giving talks for RAP for about 14 years now and being able to share my story is tough but at the same time very important,” he said.
“The students in the Riverland were very appreciative and understanding and I hope my story helped them.
“I was 24 when I had my car accident and I feel that if someone had spoken to me about the importance of road safety when I was in high school, my life may have taken a very different path.”
Mr Borchard said he received a “fantastic response” from the region.
“We want everyone to be aware of the risks involved with being a road user and to make informed choices,” he said.
“We don’t sugar coat anything in our presentations, everything is real.
“As we say, ‘one death on our roads is one too many’ so we try and do whatever we can to enforce that. After we visited the schools, we also did corrections in Berri.
“No matter what age someone is, if we have offenders on our road, this program is the perfect opportunity as part of their conditions on gaining their license again.”
Mr Borchard will return to the region later this year.
“We’ll be coming back in a few months because our talk was extremely popular and we weren’t able to visit as many people as we did,” he said.
“Looking at statistics, 16 to 24-year-olds are the best drivers in the country, so that is why it’s vital RAP continues.
“The reasons why we have statistics is because we want the road toll to be zero.
“We want to get through to as many people as possible and hopefully start to get adult groups together for the presentations.”