School children receive valuable road safety lesson

Around 80,000 children will learn more about road safety in 2008 thanks to a unique injury prevention program. The Spinal Education Awareness Team (SEAT) delivers important safety messages and demonstrates the consequences of risky behaviour, particularly on our roads, to children at primary and secondary schools throughout Queensland.

Spinal Injuries Association CEO Mark Henley has applauded the Save a life a week campaign, a joint initiative of The Courier-Mail and Queensland Police aimed at reducing the state’s alarmingly high number of road accidents.

“A tragic number of Queenslanders have been killed by motor vehicle accidents,” Mr Henley said. “Accidents on our roads are also the number one cause of all spinal cord injuries.

“At this stage, prevention is the only cure for a spinal cord injury.

“Road safety is paramount to the injury prevention messages provided by our SEAT presenters, and we commend the Save a life a week initiative.”

Mr Henley said people in the Queensland community must learn to be safer on the road.

“Our community must work together to help reduce motor vehicle trauma,” he said. “Educating our youth is integral to that goal.”

“Our SEAT presenters have already received bookings to speak to nearly 7,000 children at Queensland schools this year, and driver and passenger safety is an important part of their presentation,” he said.

“Some of our presenters have been injured in car or motorbike accidents and share their first-hand experiences with the children.
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“On average, every four days a Queenslander sustains a spinal cord injury; by slowing down and taking care on the roads, we can reduce the number of motor vehicle accidents and keep our community safe.”

Mr Henley said the social and financial costs associated with acquiring a spinal cord injury were enormous.

“The annual costs in Queensland – including hospitalisation, personal care, equipment and home modifications – for the 90 newly-injured people to return home each year is more than $26.6 million.

“Because there is no cure for spinal cord injury, these costs are borne for a lifetime.”

The SEAT program, which has shared valuable safety messages with more than one million children during the past 20 years, provides practical information on how to keep safe on the roads, in the water, on the sports field, at home and in the classroom.

The SEAT presenters are all volunteers and have either paraplegia or quadriplegia and use a wheelchair.

“The importance of wearing seatbelts (as a passenger and as a driver), the dangers of speeding and drink-driving, and the risks of not wearing helmets when riding their bikes are some of the main messages we share with the children,” Mr Henley said.

“We need to follow these messages through to the rest of the community.”

To book a SEAT visit at a school or workplace, please contact 1800 810 513 or visit www.spinal.com.au.

Issued 6 February 2008.