A NEW car to help young learner drivers in the Derwent Valley was delivered to the Derwent Valley Community House. State treasurer and Derwent MLC Michael Aird said the car had been provided under the "Cars for Communities" program which had funded 29 organisations to purchase vehicles for a range of community transport services.
“This will help young people who might not otherwise have access to family members or professional driving instructors," Mr Aird said. “Many people find it hard to participate in community life simply because they don’t have access to transport. Research has shown that the level of supervised driving experience in a range of conditions is a key factor in reducing the risk of young drivers being involved in a crash,” he said.
Mr Aird said not being able to obtain a driver’s licence could also disadvantage young people in terms of access to employment and training opportunities. “The Learner Driver Mentoring Program was developed in response to this need, with the first programs established in 2005,” Mr Aird said.
“These programs are community-run, providing learner drivers in need of assistance with the opportunity to develop their on-road driving experience. This is the first time that the program has been run in New Norfolk, after being run successfully in other parts of the State. They help disadvantaged learner drivers access a suitable vehicle and responsible supervisory driver to gain on-road driving experience, including their required 50 hours in the L2 learner stage.”
Mr Aird said the learner driver program would be run by the Derwent Valley Community House, which could be contacted on 6261 5230 for more information.
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