Santos improving lives of Roma youth on the road with $2000 donation

According to outgoing Roma Rotary Club president Scott McDonnell, the Rotary Youth Driver Awareness one-day road safety education program, which has been operating for some years in Australia but was only recently brought to Roma, teaches risk aversion to young people about to get their learner's licence.

"We've been focusing on students in Years 11 and 12 at Roma State College but we wanted to get to kids a bit earlier, and cover all schools," he said. "Thanks to the barbecue that we did at the Roma rugby, we discovered that we aligned with Santos in lots of areas on this topic."

The company funds the Australian Driving Institute to provide a masterclass in driver training throughout the year.

According to Santos CEO and managing director Kevin Gallagher, Santos staff that won a safety category award at its recent directors' Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability awards chose to donate $2000 to Roma's RYDA program.

"The safety category was won by a team who implemented a range of initiatives to improve the safety for our own drivers," he said.

"Driving is Santos' top safety risk, which is why improving driving behaviour has been a strong focus for the company.

"I'm pleased that the Santos team responsible for improving our own staff safety has chosen to improve the safety of drivers in the community, too."

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Santos staff and contractors drive more than 20 million kilometres each year, equivalent to a car travelling around the globe 500 times.

Mr McDonnell said the profit Rotary had made at the Santos Festival of Rugby earlier in 2022 had enabled them to provide the RYDA program in both secondary schools this year, and the additional $2000 donation would ensure it could happen again next year.

He said the program was set to roll out to dozens of young drivers in Roma from August 3.

They take part in six interactive sessions spread out over a day, delivered by road safety experts, including driving instructors, police, recovering car crash survivors, drug and alcohol educators, and motoring service personnel.

The participants, put in small peer groups, are challenged to change the way they think about road safety, participating in a stopping distance demonstration, devising personalised strategies, gaining an understanding of their individual risk profile, leading an investigation into a real life crash, and getting tips from road safety experts on how to protect themselves, their friends and their family.

"Most kids learn to drive in mum and dad's flash safe car," Mr McDonnell said.

"Then they buy their own and it doesn't have driver assist or the safety features they've come to rely on.

"The program talks about peripheral vision, and they hear from people affected by accidents."

According to the RYDA literature, it gives students critical information and strategies that don't come from driving lessons, books or the school classroom, so that when they start driving, they have the best road safety education possible.

Mr Gallagher said Santos was passionate about building a better future for the communities where it operates.

The RYDA donation is on top of Santos' ongoing commitment to Roma, which has seen the gas company spend more than $43 million with 227 local suppliers so far this year, as well as supporting local organisations including the Roma Rugby Union Club, Maranoa Wildlife Caring and Education, the Roma Show Society and the Surat Aboriginal Corporation.