Qld road toll: Fireys target young motorists in bid to reduce tragic death rate

QFES firefighters are volunteering their rostered days off in an attempt to lower Queensland’s extreme road toll, revealing the grim reality of what confronts them at the scenes of serious crashes.

They are often the first people on scene at road traffic crashes and are all too familiar with their consequences.

In heavy-duty, high-vis PPE and armed with hydraulic cutting equipment, also known as jaws of life, they are the ones who can free an entrapped driver to save their life.

However, it does not always end with a life saved – and Queensland Fire and Emergency Service crews have seen the devastation of a fatal traffic crash reverberate through entire communities.

Brisbane co-ordinator for QFES’s road attitudes and action planning (RAAP) program Alex Pearl said the concerning spike in road deaths had sparked a drive to educate every young person in the state about road safety.

“As a firefighter, I understand the importance of the message from attending traffic crashes; we definitely see the outcomes of poor choices on the road every day,” the Annerley station officer said.

Station officers Alex Pearl and Matthew Skewes with hydraulic cutting equipment at the Annerley Fire and Rescue Station. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

“I’ve got a background as a teacher, so I thought it’s a great opportunity to use my skill sets.”

The RAAP program is run by firefighters who volunteer their rostered days off to educate 16- to 18-year-olds and shift young drivers’ attitudes with a focus on emotional impacts and changing behaviours.

Mr Pearl said the concept of choice, action and consequence was reinforced throughout the program that reached almost 30,000 young Queenslanders through 324 presentations.

“It’s a program designed by teachers and youth workers who are employed by the fire service, so we have that have that background,” he said.

“We were trained on how to talk to students at their level, about a mature topic.”

He noted that RAAP offered early intervention, driven by changing attitudes rather than a punitive approach to road safety.

“It’s an educational solution, which is true prevention, prepared rather than responsive,” Mr Pearls said.

Three-quarters of the presentations were done in schools but with the rise in criminalised young people engaging in road-based offences, the program has expanded into the youth justice space, he said.

Station officers Alex Pearl and Matthew Skewes with hydraulic cutting equipment at the Annerley Fire and Rescue Station. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

Fellow RAAP co-ordinator Matthew Skewes said outside of schools, presentations had been done at trade schools, YMCAs and for young people at risk of or already disengaged with formal education.

“We’re getting more and more involved in the youth justice system as they’re kids who already show a propensity for this sort of risk-taking,” he said.

“We tell them about our experiences and how it affects us … then we help them make better choices and wiser decisions to hopefully never see us ever again.”

Mr Skewes, who is also an Annerley station officer, said there was a small proportion of young people he engaged with who either did not need or were unable to change their behaviours following a presentation alone.

“But there’s this very large middle group who may only be passengers in a vehicle but decide not to get in if the driver has been drinking … they’re the ones that I’m targeting,” he said.

A Queensland Fire and Emergency Service fire truck in action.

“The ones who might think, ‘I don't feel safe in this car’, and we’ve given them the skills and the confidence to get out of that situation, because this action they’re going to take may save their life.

“We want to cut this off before it becomes a problem.

“I want to stop it before it’s an incident where I’ve got to go to cut up a car and get someone out, because for firefighters, paramedics and police, it’s affecting us.”

Mr Skewes described his first-hand experience in which a good friend in his early 20s was killed in a road crash 37 years ago.

“It still affects me now – I’m 49, and I know it most definitely still affects his family … so I’ve got real-world experience as well,” he said.

“Unfortunately, I wish I didn’t, but a lot of crashes we go to with young people in it that I think of that fellow as well.”

Queensland Fire and Emergency Service officers from Ingham on standby during army exercises in Hinchinbrook in 2022. Picture: Cameron Bates

He urged parents of young people to get in touch with a school and find out if they were receiving this presentation and pressure them to offer it if not.

Mr Pearl said that research into the RAAP’s effectiveness was under way after the program was axed under the Newman government between 2012-15.

It was reintroduced by the new Palaszczuk government in 2015. On the reinstatement committee was Mr Pearl, who said that until the data is available he is confident the anecdotal evidence assures him it works.

Mr Skewes said the axing was “heartbreaking” for firefighters who volunteered their time to help lower the road toll.

“Which shows how important it is to us; we’re all excited it’s back, and if we got to speak to every single year living student in Queensland, we would be ecstatic,” he said.

Educators and programs that wish to host a RAAP presentation can lodge an inquiry via qfes.qld.gov.au