Learner drivers put their hands up to participate in live scenarios with emergency services, learning what to expect and practising how to safely respond.

Tasman Road Policing together with FENZ and Hato Hone St John participated in the pilot for a learner driver evening, a road safety initiative coordinated by Tasman District Council (TDC).

Held on Rabbit Island, Nelson, the event aimed to provide learner drivers with a safe and controlled environment to learn how to respond and interact with emergency services while on the road and in limited light.

Closed to the public at night, Moturoa/Rabbit Island provided the perfect environment to safely run the simulation event. Each young driver was paired up with a supervisor, in most cases a parent.

Road Policing Senior Sergeant Nathan Snell said that safely manoeuvring a vehicle in an emergency or getting pulled over by the Police for any reason can cause anxiety for most drivers and especially those just learning.

“The unfortunate reality is these situations happen all the time on the roads, so having our young drivers know what to do in any of these scenarios is invaluable. Whether it’s pulling your vehicle over to let emergency services through or being pulled over by one of our team.”

After a briefing with the drivers and their supervisors, Police, Ambulance, Paramedic and Fire vehicles all headed out onto a circuit with the participating drivers following them.

The scenarios included moving out of the way to allow emergency vehicles to safely pass, being pulled over by Police, passing through a crash scene, and encountering a road safety checkpoint. Throughout the scenarios the drivers also had to keep an eye on other drivers and monitor for other potential hazards.

With the first two scenarios simultaneously happening, the activity, flashing lights and sirens gave the learner drivers a very real experience to get comfortable with how emergency services operate, especially in the dark. Emergency vehicles were approaching and following, and Police were signalling the drivers to stop.

A crash scene was also set up with St John and FENZ attending to the injured and road management in place. The drivers exited the exercise by being breath tested at a Road Safety Checkpoint and received a bag full of road safety information and giveaways funded by TDC.

The evening also provided the opportunity for educational talks from the emergency service providers at the event. This was a chance to get messaging to the young drivers about the behaviours that cause harm on the road, including the importance of using of restraints and the disastrous consequences that distraction, excessive speed and impairment can have.

Feedback from the drivers has been overwhelmingly positive with some great ideas on building more into the event such as including other hazards for the drivers to navigate, extending it to a wider range of drivers, and what to do when you’re first on the scene of an accident.

And it wasn’t just the drivers that got a lot out of the event, some of the supervisor drivers fed back that it was a valuable refresher for them too.

TDC's Road Safety Coordinator, Jeni Thornborough, said that educating and supporting the community to travel safely on Tasman's roading network, no matter what age, was a key focus for all involved in the initiative.

"This opportunity provided an excellent platform to educate and teach drivers in a controlled scenario. We will do all we can to host more of these opportunities in the future."

Thanks to a successful pilot the event is set to become a regular road safety initiative for young drivers, with other driving groups to be considered. A great prevention initiative from Tasman District Council’s Road Safety Coordinator Jeni Thornborough, with the input and time of Police, FENZ and Hato Hone St John.

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