As the calendar turns to the new financial we celebrate the milestones of F24, shine a light on some worthy road safety heroes, share news from our crack team of travelling facilitators and say goodbye to our long-standing CEO, Terry Birss.
In this issue – scroll down or click to jump ahead:
We announced earlier in the year that Maria Lovelock has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Road Safety Education Limited, suceeding Terry Birss who recently stepped down after 25 years of dedicated service to youth road safety education – more than half of which he spent as RSE’s CEO and Managing Director.
Sixteen July marked the change over date and we take the opportunity to thank Terry for his incredible leadership and mentorship over the years. Terry has been instrumental in shaping RSE since its inception – first as a Rotary project in 2001 and then as a corporation from 2004. Under his leadership, RSE has expanded its impact significantly, building strong partnerships across the corporate, community, and government sectors while maintaining close ties with Rotary clubs in both countries.
There is no other road safety education program for youth, that has started as a community project and built into a professionally developed, professionally delivered, best practice program running across Australia and New Zealand, reaching over 60,000 young people every year. Terry led this growth while keeping the program sustainable and accessible, with a keen eye on always improving the quality and increasing its reach, even through a pandemic. This 25 year commitment is truly remarkable.
Supported by a passionate and experienced senior leadership team, Maria’s aspiration is to build on Terry’s legacy and continue delivering best-practice road safety education, to help create communities free from road deaths and serious injuries.
From the team at RSE, we wish Terry all the best in his retirement.
This short video gives you all the data – from students, to workshops, to schools and their locations. We’ve travelled far and wide to bring Ryda learning to more students than every.
While our students were getting into the road safety week spirit and learning new tools to keep themselves safe, our partners were helping us shine the light on some very special people and groups who work tirelessly behind the scenes to help us bring Ryda messages to more school communities.
Click on the buttons below to see what we got up to and read more about our annual Supporting Excellence in Road Safety Education awardees
Thanks to funding from the QLD Government Community Road Safety Scheme we were able to set ourselves a hefty goal this year – reach more students in more Queensland communities, further remote than we ever have before.
Along the way, our facilitators have met some impressive young people who have brought with them a willingness to learn and embrace road safety. Check out the photo and map and see if they’ve visited any of your favourite QLD places.
“Mind Matters was truly a game-changer! The session was full of energy, and I was completely captivated from start to finish. What I loved most is how it explored mental health, personality, emotions and mood-topics that are so important but often overlooked🧠💡 especially on the road/when driving.
The way they helped us understand how our personality influences how we react to situations and how our emotions and mood can shift our perspective was eye-opening. It gave me a whole new level of awareness about myself and how I interact with the world around me. The session wasn’t just informative, it was real. They gave us practical tools to manage stress, improve our mood, and better understand our emotions, which is something I know I’ll carry with me everyday” (Student, Sancta Maria College)
