The Year 11 St Stanislaus’ College student was among 650 attendees at this week’s Rotary Youth Driver Awareness (RYDA) road safety education program being held at Mount Panorama.

On Wednesday, Jarrod and his fellow Stannies students saw how driving just 10km/h above the speed limit can lead to disaster.

“It’s a bit confronting,” he said after watching a speeding car collide into a crash test dummy along Pit Straight.

“People should just be more aware of speed limits and braking time.”

Driving instructor Ian Plenderleith was behind the wheel during the demonstration and said students are often surprised at how long it takes a car to stop after braking.

Jarrod said the road safety program reinforced to him how important it was for every driver to make good decisions when behind the wheel.

The teen said he had personally been touched by a tragedy on the road after his uncle was killed in a road accident six years ago.

Matt Irvine, from course facilitator Panorama Road Safety, said a number of vital areas are covered during the program.

“We show the relationship between speed and stopping, reaction time, hazards and how to respond, planning and safer decisions and consequences,” he said.

Crash survivors, David Paton and Pamela Collis, spoke to the students about their experiences during the session.

Now in its 10^th year the RYDA program has trained more than 5000 students at Mount Panorama.

This week’s course involved students students from two other Bathurst schools, Scots School and Skillset, as well as students from Blayney, Oberon and Kandos.

Bathurst RYDA program co-ordinator Brian Burke said students often comment that the course, in particular the driving sessions, are “eye opener”.

“Parental engagement was significant with 80 per cent of students talking to their parent about RYDA,” he said.

Police, headspace and Bathurst East Rotary Club representatives also helped to facilitate the program road safety this week.