Alison Balding was appointed as the region’s first road safety officer earlier this year and said she is pleased to be reaching rural communities as part of her role.

“I think it’s important to have these kinds of workshops available for people in smaller places,” she explained.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the response in terms of the uptake.”

She said Merriwa had been a particular focus of Roads and Maritime Services (RMS), given it hadn’t hosted a learner driver workshop in the past, and is also without a registered driving instructor.

The free courses are designed to improve driver confidence, and also re-educate the people charged with teaching them.

“One of the things the RMS is really keen to do is up-skill parents in their role of teaching young people how to drive, so a lot of carers and supervisors find that quite full on,” she said.

“It’s quite an anxious time for them, so the intention of the workshop is to cover things like ‘what does it involve to be a supervising driver’, ‘what are some of the issues facing young drivers’...how to deal with stress and those types of things.”

With the rate of accidents for people within six months of obtaining their P-plates being up to thirty times higher than others, Ms Balding said it’s crucial to make them feel secure on the road.

She has already conducted several programs in the area to combat the statistics.

And, while she said it was too early to lay claim to the lack of fatalities since her arrival, Ms Balding was pleased there had been a downturn in tragedies. 

The workshop will take place at the Merriwa Library on Thursday, November 29, from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.