Road safety behaviour change program grows to include TAFE students, apprentices – and workplace safety.

The Re:act road safety behaviour change program launched in the TAFE sector today, at the Perth campus of North Metropolitan TAFE, to include TAFE students and apprentices.

Proven to raise awareness and change behaviour among young road users, Re:act has run in universities since 2016 and is now also launching nationally in the TAFE system in Australia throughout 2021, focusing on a key road and workplace safety risk for young drivers: fatigue.

Re:act TAFE challenges local graphic design students to create a campaign that raises awareness among 16-24 year old road users of a critical road safety issue.

Program partners WorkSafe WA and the Road Safety Commission of WA, along with Hard Edge behaviour change agency, provide feedback to students throughout development before selecting the most effective campaign. The selected campaign is developed for public execution via media partner oOh!media’s digital assets, including on campuses and in regional areas.

“Re:act gives young people a voice in road safety, and the peer-to-peer communication it fosters has proven to be a critical strength of the program,” Re:act and Hard Edge Founder Andrew Hardwick said.

“As part of extending the program into TAFE, graphic design students will build on their own perspectives through research with apprentices. Whether they are an apprentice bricklayer up at 4am or a student working part-time in hospitality until 2am, fatigue is a significant safety risk for both groups, particularly when combined with busy social lives.

“This makes the insights Re:act uncovers about how to engage this hard to reach audience incredibly valuable in informing the strategies road and workplace safety agencies collaborating with Re:act implement to improve safety for young people, particular where road and workplace safety intersect.”

Road Safety Commissioner of Western Australia Adrian Warner said he was delighted more students would have the opportunity to be involved in Re:act.

“The Road Safety Commission is thrilled to support Re:act as it expands this fantastic program into TAFE campuses in WA,” he said.

“Young people continue to be overrepresented in the number of fatalities and serious injuries on our roads, which makes the Re:act program such an important initiative.

“Putting the power in the hands of our young people to develop unique and engaging road safety content is a brilliant way to draw attention and awareness to this issue and I can’t wait to see the outcomes.”

Visit reactforchange.com to learn more about the Re:act program.

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For further information:

Andrew Hardwick
CEO – Hard Edge & Re:act
M +61 (0)417 334 399
ahardwick@hardedge.com.au

An initiative of Hard Edge, the annual Re:act program challenges local higher education students to create a behaviour change campaign that raises awareness among 16-25 year old road users of a critical road safety issue where they are overrepresented. A panel of university or TAFE, road and workplace safety, and industry partners selects the most compelling road safety campaign in each state, which is then developed and launched on university or TAFE campuses and oOh!media’s digital assets, including its landmark billboards. Now in its sixth year, Re:act ran in 2020 in Melbourne with Swinburne, UTS in Sydney and, for the first time, Brisbane, through QUT. The program also expanded internationally into London, at University of the Arts London. In 2021, the Re:act program will once again run in each of those institutions and grow further in Australia, running in Perth for the first time with Curtin University as well as in TAFE campuses across Australia. There are further plans for international expansion into Europe, the United States and South America.