New road safety education display in the Scitech Discovery Centre

November 12, 1996

The science and technology of the 21st century are being used for an exciting road safety education display in the Scitech Discovery Centre at West Perth.

RoadSafe is a hands-on road safety exhibition that allows visitors of all ages, particularly children, to observe the risks they take on the roads and explore ways of reducing them.

Transport Minister Eric Charlton officially opened RoadSafe today.

Mr Charlton said the strategy of exploration and discovery in an interactive road safety display was a proven learning technique for cyclists, pedestrians, motorcycle riders, drivers and passengers.

"While we are never too old to learn something new, especially in the vital area of road safety, RoadSafe has been designed to appeal more to our young road users," he said.

"This is part of the revolution in road safety awareness that I am instigating through the Office of Road Safety. Our children will be educated to be keen to learn about road safety. They will be part of the whole-of-community approach to road safety."

Mr Charlton said the 17 interactive road safety displays were developed in consultation with the Education and Health Departments to complement existing road safety resources and would be supported by an integrated teachers' kit.

The $300,000 contribution from the State Government Insurance Commission and the support of the Traffic Board of Western Australia would ensure that RoadSafe was an essential element of the Scitech Discovery Centre for the next five years.

Scitech staff would make sure that individuals and groups of school children, as well as their teachers, gained the maximum benefit from the RoadSafe experience.

The Minister said the knowledge gained from the electronic road safety exhibits would make road users more aware of the right choices to make when they were exposed to real-life road safety incidents.

Media contact: Sally Squires 321 7333; pager: 482 5786