Rocky Horror Road Show ends for Ipswich high school students
A real-life fatal crash scenario that has been educating high school students for the past 14 years has come to an end.
Ipswich
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It was a graphic and at times confronting insight into the horrors of fatal traffic crashes that helped educate 10,000 Ipswich high school students over the past 14 years.
The Rocky Horror Road Show has had its last hurrah this year, with Ipswich’s Crime Prevention Unit deciding to focus its resources on in-school education programs to warn children about the Fatal Five.
The show was the brainchild of Ipswich Sergeant Nadine Webster, who managed to assemble representatives from all emergency services at Ripley’s Cityhope Church for the full-scale role play each year since 2007.
Children from the schools involved were called upon to play the roles of crash victims, donning ripped clothing and fake blood to simulate the horrors of a real-life crash scenario.
Real firefighters would come in with sirens blazing and cut the vehicle apart to free trapped passengers while paramedics worked on screaming injured teenagers, with police hovering around to control the scene and speak to witnesses.
Often those inquiries would end with the driver being carted away in hand cuffs.
The production even went as far as to bring in undertakers to carry the mock dead away from the scene, in an unapologetically real depiction of what happens when young people make fatal errors on the road.
Sgt Webster said she was proud of the progress made over the past 14 years and was sad the program was coming to an end.
“We have found that with the ATAR system coming into schools that year 12s have less time to spend out of class,” Sgt Webster said.
“We decided it was a better idea to take programs into schools.
“It is a bittersweet thing because I think the Rocky Horror Road Show has really filled a void and helped address our road toll.
“It has definitely shown results and been a worthwhile program over 14 years.”
The final Rocky Horror Road Show was staged in July with about 500 students attending, but at its height the program averaged more than 800 students.
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