Indigenous youth steering their lives in a new direction
Monday, 27 September 2004
Driver licence Prog illustration courtesy Shepparton News
Indigenous youth from Shepparton and Mooroopna are steering their lives in a new direction.
A group of eager young males and a females aged between 16 and 25 years are getting behind the wheel under the careful eye of qualified driving instructors as part of a joint initiative between Ganbina Koori Economic Employment Training Agency and the RACV’s Rural Road Safety Program.
The Ganbina Driver Licence program involves 16 Indigenous youth participating in a multi-level program assisting them with:
- Obtaining the correct documentation and certificates required for proof of identity
- Learning road laws
- Undertaking driving lessons with a qualified instructor
- Preparing them for either learner or provisional driving licences
In addition to driver training the program focuses on road safety - making sure participants are road ready. They commit to complementary activities designed to enhance their road safety skills including a First Aide Level 2 course, attending a Magistrates Court and Police Traffic briefing and learning car basics at a Motor Mechanic Introduction course.
Shepparton Driving School instructor Russell Orchard commended Ganbina and RACV on the “complete package” program. “It’s the best program I have ever been involved in and is without a question the ideal way to prepare drivers for the road.” He said the participants were not the only ones benefiting from the program. “They (the participants) are better off and the community is too because we have safer drivers on our roads.”
Meagan Appo of Shepparton is one participant very impressed with the program and what it has already done for her. “It has been a lot less stressful and I am definitely learning a lot more than some of my friends who are learning to drive. The lessons have been really good – I couldn’t drive a manual car and now I can.” She said the other components of the program made her feel more confident helping her become a safer driver.
Ladders to Success project officer Geoffery Johnson said the financial assistance was one of the main benefits of the program because it covers all associated costs in gaining a licence.
“But not only that, the preparation to getting a licence is spot on because it involves a lot about road safety,” Geoffery said.
Participating in the program will enhance Geoffery’s work role at Ganbina. “Once I’ve completed it I’ll be able to network better with clients, see them more efficiently and take on more clients because I’ll be more mobile.”
Ganbina was one of seven projects in Victoria that received the one-off $15 000 grants made available through the RACV. More than 50 groups applied for the grants but the winning applicants all reflected sound road safety initiatives that engaged with their community with an aim of reducing road trauma in their region.
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