Southern Cross LADS Inc.

Keeping our children safe is something that as parents (and grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends) we all feel strongly about. This does not change no matter how old they get. We also know however that encouraging teenagers to ‘play safe’ is often easier said than done. Many times when reality strikes this can be taken out of our hands.

The concept behind the Learn About Driving Skills Driver Education Facility was born out of tragedy, when the lives of four young men were cut short in October 2006 as a result of a motor vehicle crash in Northern NSW. The parents of the boys, along with friends, family and community came together and established Southern Cross LADS, with the aim of playing a major role in influencing legislation around driver education and skills development for all drivers, but particularly for our ‘L’ and ‘P’ Plate drivers.

The objectives of the LADS Driver Education Facility are to:

• Increase driver awareness of risks on the road;
• Build a driver’s capacity for effective decision making; and
• Develop safe driving behaviour.

Southern Cross LADS, a not-for-profit initiative, has made a commitment to establishing the Learn About Driving Skills (LADS) Facility, and has purchased the land and been granted DA approval as well as a Construction Certificate for stage one, the Driving Track, Access and Car Park of the Facility. To make this dream a reality we now need to add to this community support with Government and private sector partnerships.

Our conviction and belief is that if we equip learner and provisional drivers with more hours in supervised driver training to teach kids low risk driving skills, to heighten their hazard perception and to change their attitude towards driving then the chances of having a crash will reduce dramatically. The LADS Driver Education Facility will provide a place where this training can happen.

The Facility is being specially designed to deliver on our key objectives through a combination of classroom and on-track training. Over the longer term it will be self sustaining and a hub for driver education training programs.