Boral has extended its partnership with Road Safety Education Limited (RSE) to deliver education programs for school students.
The partnership has been ongoing since 2018. RSE has delivered the Ryda road safety program which has been delivered to more than 735,000 young Australians nationally.
“We are proud to be a longstanding partner of RSE and the Ryda program. Through the various programs we have helped to deliver, we have seen first-hand the engagement and benefits students have had in talking to Boral drivers and learning about the trucks and heavy vehicles and, more importantly how they can make safe choices around them,” Boral executive general manager for asphalt Richard Pearson said.
“As one of the largest suppliers of construction materials in Australia, we have a large heavy vehicle footprint – about 3,500 heavy vehicles – and are on the road everyday delivering to customers. We are committed to better educating the next generation of drivers and passengers with whom we share the road.”
Boral has also been a founding principal partner of National Road Safety Week. The annual initiative that aims to highlight the impact of road trauma and ways to reduce it, supported by governments and businesses across Australia and New Zealand, including Boral.
Tens of thousands of students each year participate in Ryda school programs, in which they learn the tools, habits and behaviours to stay safe on roads as both drivers and passengers.
Boral provided input into the development of a Ryda topic that sees students investigate the challenges faced by heavy vehicle drivers and how to predict any actions they may need to take to accommodate them.
There have also been opportunities for heavy vehicles to be present at the workshops to help students understand, with a real life experience, the risks and considerations when sharing the road with trucks. Participating students get to talk to a Boral driver and sit in the truck’s cabin to learn first-hand about the risk factors, such as truck blind spots and stopping distances.
“We are pleased Boral has recommitted to its partnership with RSE and is helping deliver much-needed, potentially life-saving heavy vehicle safety education. 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,” Road Safety Education managing director and chief executive officer Terry Briss said.
“Every year, the Ryda program reaches approximately 50,000 students throughout Australia and contributes towards saving young people’s lives on the road. Schools recognise the value of Ryda to their students and are committing in increasing numbers to this educational experience.
“We thank our corporate partners, including Boral, for their continued support in the delivery of the program. Together, we are not only teaching critical strategies on road safety but contributing to a reduction in road trauma – in short, helping to save young lives and reduce serious injury on our roads.”
