Designing safer roads together

Spirited, collaborative discussions of experiences and ideas erupted between learner and P plate drivers and their driver supervisors during our November co-design event, which will begin to shape support for the next generation of learners and their supervisors.

As part of the RACT Youth Road Safety Project, a five-year program that is funded through an $8 million grant from the Tasmanian Government, 27 people – including 13 learner drivers and their 12 driver supervisors, RACT team members, and design experts from our sister club in WA – gathered in Hobart to collaborate on road-safety solutions.

Pippa, a learner driver from Hobart, attested that it’s “good to get input from young people, because we’re the ones it’s most affecting”. 

The session highlighted the types of support both learners and supervisors need, as well as the ways they would like to see and engage with road safety information and resources. 

“I feel more confident when I have a supervisor who keeps me calm, gives me clear feedback and helps guide me through situations I haven’t experienced before,” said Luca, a new P plater.

Georgie, a mother attending with two learner drivers, shared the other side of the wheel: “The first thing that came to my mind was educating the supervisors. When you’re teaching someone to drive you just don’t know what you don’t know.”

Insights such as these will guide the project’s evolution this year. We’ll be working with teachers, providing resources for the Tasmanian curriculum and schools and delivering more co-design events, including on the West Coast later this year.

Each year, around 300 Tasmanians are killed or seriously injured on our roads, with around a third of those under 25.

To get involved with future events, contact [email protected]