The first ever Young Drivers Education Night was held in 2003, one and a half years following the death of local son Jared Graham.
It has been running annually ever since.
“It was around 2003 that we got involved, myself and a few other members from the Lions Club,” says Norm Graham, Jared’s father.
“We started it by introducing a car club which was called the Hinterland Car Club originally, we were doing driver education for the kids,” he says.
“We would take them out to Warwick and get them on the track, putting them in cars with impaired vision goggles.”
Norm says that there was talk of putting a driving track in Canungra, but the development was stopped.
“In the early days we were going to put in a track and everything for the kids to teach them properly,” he says.
This year, the night was organised by local mothers Virginia West, Catherine Corcoran and _ in partnership with the Canungra Show Society and Canungra and District Community Bank.
“It’s a new era,” says Virginia.
The driver education nights have continuously been run by local parents
“We will continue to run it as long as the community needs it,” Virginia says.
“I think that’s the key to safe driving, to have the community talking to our young drivers.”
Members of Canungra’s fire brigade and ambulance station along with Senior Constable Tony Fishburn represented their respective emergency services and gave presentations on how they are involved in responding to accidents.
Senior Constable Fishburn also ran a vehicle simulator machine, enabling the youth attending to experience how using a mobile phone can affect their driving.
