Young people experience rapid emotional, physical and cognitive changes as they transition from childhood to adulthood.

Brain development is at the core of this transition:

• the decision-making part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex, is still developing throughout the teen years into early adulthood. It’s this part that allows us to plan and think about the consequences of actions, solve problems and control impulses.
• as the prefrontal cortex is still developing, young people might rely on a part of the brain called the amygdala, which controls emotions, impulses, aggression and instinctive behaviour. Young people might  use this part of the brain to make decisions and solve problems, more than adults would use it.

With a combination of peer influence, social rites of passage and a brain that can be impulsive and emotional, young people may make decisions that can impact their immediate and longer-term health and wellbeing. In the context of road safety, decisions that may put them at risk include texting and walking across a road, using a seatbelt incorrectly, not wearing a helmet when riding, or being overconfident yet inexperienced as provisional drivers.

As young people become more independent, they are also prone to the risks that alcohol and other drugs pose, influencing their perspectives as a driver, passenger, rider and pedestrian. 

Regardless of current circumstances, young people all have strengths and capacities, values and hopes that enable them to stay healthy, safe and well. 

The activities and resources in On the move take a strengths-based approach by acknowledging that students: 

• possess strengths, capacities and capabilities that can be supported and developed to improve their own and others’ health, safety, wellbeing and participation in physical activity
• have varying levels of access to personal and community resources depending on a variety of contextual factors that will have an impact on their attitudes, decisions and behaviours.

A strengths-based approach encourages students to draw on their own and others’ strengths, capacities, capabilities and resources. This helps them to develop the knowledge, understanding, skills, values and attitudes they require to make healthy, safe and active choices to improve their own and others’ health, safety, wellbeing and participation in physical activity.

- NSW Education Standards Authority, 2021

The NSW Road Safety Education Program is funded by Transport for NSW in government and non-government schools. The NSW education sectors are funded to provide schools with professional development for teachers through the employment of road safety education specialists.

The program aims to build teacher knowledge and skills in teaching curriculum-based road safety, using up-to-date evidence-based resources in an ongoing, sequential school program, taught by professional educators.

Road safety can be a sensitive topic for students and school communities. Classroom teachers are best placed to provide road safety education and other health content, as they know their students' and communities’ needs, and tailor teaching programs accordingly.

Contact a road safety education specialist

• Association of Independent Schools
• Catholic Schools NSW
• NSW Department of Education

bstreetsmart

The annual bstreetsmart event brings together more than 20,000 NSW secondary school students to promote road safety.

The forum includes a real-life simulated crash scenario and students hear personal stories from those who have suffered brain and spinal injuries, and also get the chance to visit a range of interactive displays.

The event is largely funded by the NSW Government through the Centre for Road Safety and is supported by the NSW Police Force, the NSW Ambulance Service, Fire and Rescue NSW and other road safety partners.

As part of our work with the school education sectors, we have developed Teaching and learning ideas for teachers to use with students before and after attending bstreetsmart.

Transport for NSW collates and provides road crash statistics using data from NSW Health, the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA), icare (Insurance & Care NSW) and the NSW Police Force. Each day road crash data is processed and edited to obtain information on deaths and serious injuries for every crash.

Transport for NSW uses extensive crash databases for road safety analysis and research, strategic planning and policy development.

Interactive reports provide evidence for organisations, researchers and the general public to help with the development of education resources, research and road safety programs and initiatives.

The reports include general NSW crash and casualty statistics, serious injuries numbers and road trauma characteristics, as well as trends by Local Government Areas.

Transport for NSW interactive crash statistics.