Drug drivers outnumber drink drivers 5:1: Startling warning to Wide Bay teens

Amid a sea of confronting images and tales from traffic cops and traffic crash survivors, teens were told the troubling truth about the dangers on local roads. Watch the road safety video here.

More than 1,000 high school students across Wide Bay, many of whom are preparing to get on the road, were warned about the importance of road safety this week.

The Rotary Youth Driver Awareness (RYDA) Program is teaching year 10 students about the dangers faced when driving.

The program aims to decrease fatalities across the Coast, which to this date, have more than doubled since last year.

Wide Bay-Burnett District Officer Superintendent Michael Sawrey said in the Wide Bay-Burnett district, there had been 26 fatalities, while this time last year there were 10.

Superintendent Sawrey also said there were a “group of contributing factors”, including “increased traffic” in the area.

“These programs are critical because we're getting to educate young people on making decisions … a lot of the deaths on our roads are contributed to bad decisions by drivers,” he said.

Students from across 18 different schools will experience the program, as they go through six sessions including a demonstration of speed and stopping, RYDA Maryborough Chair Lloyd Marren said.

“Another one we have a gentleman who is a paraplegic as a result of the road crash, he tells his story and then students analyse his crash,” Mr Marren said.

Bayside Christian College student Moses Fisher, 15, said he’s glad the program can teach his friends how to be road safe. Picture: Isabella Magee

Maryborough Patrol Group Acting Inspector Brooke Flood said the region was seeing “increased road fatalities and injuries”.

“There are several causes of these act incidents, it ranges from drunk driving and driver distraction,” Inspector Flood said.

And, police are monitoring local roads closely, as drug intoxication while driving verse alcohol intoxication while driving is five to one.

“That's really concerning for our area, and really concerning for our road users,” she said.