If you were the parent of a teenager learning to drive, and your son or daughter took the “Slow Down Pledge,” vowing they would not drive over the speed limit, or get into a car with a speeding driver, you’d be pleased.
But how did the Roads and Traffic Authority reward 150 of those young people who signed the pledge? By inviting them to a Twenty/20 cricket match, and plying them with free food and alcohol.
Yes, it’s good to reward people, especially young drivers, who take road safety seriously. But not with free alcohol at taxpayer expense. The RTA should have thought more carefully about the message its action would send to the young drivers, and their friends, and the wider community.
And I’m sure the families and friends of young people killed and injured in alcohol-related road crashes will not think well of the RTA. Alcohol and driving don’t mix.
Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, Sunday 14 March 2010.
