Young drivers bolstered their skills behind the wheel during an adrenaline-filled defensive driving training session on an airfield in Central Queensland.
The first official event planned by the Dawson Road Action Group (DRAG) involved plenty of tyre screeches as Moura State High School Year 12 students learned how to brake on wet roads.DRAG brings together local businesses, council, emergency services and education providers dedicated to raising community awareness around road safety. 
Safe Driver Training - fully funded through generous donations from DRAG members including Anglo American, Macmahon and Queensland Nitrate Plant - last week taught P-platers and learner drivers at Moura Airport how to navigate tricky road situations.
Moura State High School’s DRAG representative Amanda Wrigley said the community-led initiative had been born from a grassroots desire to improve road safety.
She said DRAG had given many businesses a conduit to offer these and other opportunities to the Moura community, in unique and varied ways.
“The community has worked together to offer students a fully funded defensive driving course that has equipped them with essential life skills and will help to keep our community safer on the road,” she said.
“It’s bringing the community together in ways we didn’t expect.
“Being part of DRAG as the Moura High representative has been extremely rewarding and the support Moura High has received has been overwhelming.”
Anglo American’s Social Performance Manager, Lynda Pollock, said the idea for the defensive driving course had come through the newly formed Dawson Road Action Group – an initiative led by Anglo American following the success of the Moranbah Road Action Group.
She said it was heartening to see a community-grown idea come to life through a variety of people volunteering their time and services.
“A program like this helps equip young drivers with the skills to be able to brake safely in an emergency and during wet weather,” she said.
“It covers lots of situations out on the roads including how to deal with wildlife and unexpected behaviour from other car drivers.
“The course also gave high school students a handle on what they should and shouldn’t be doing in confronting situations on the road.”
Ms Pollock said the course was the first in a wide range of initiatives DRAG had planned from police talks around the dangers of the fatal five to road-train awareness and emergency service scenario demonstrations.
“By bringing these groups together, DRAG has revealed a community invested in providing opportunities for the youth of Moura to build capacities within local industry and contribute to local growth now and into the future,” she said.
Anglo American has also initiated a Road Safety Group in Middlemount, ensuring all the Central Queensland communities where it operates are now supported by these critical community organisations dedicated to making roads safer in Central Queensland.
Dawson Road Action Group participants include:
- Anglo American
- Macmahon
- Queensland Nitrate Plant
- Westside
- Moura Police
- QFES
- QAS
- Banana Shire Council
- Moura Bus Service
- Qube
- Moura State High School
- Moura, Theodore and Banana primary schools
In Australia, Anglo American operates five steelmaking coal mines in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, along with additional joint venture interests in steelmaking coal and manganese, and base metals exploration projects in Queensland and Western Australia.
VIDEO: Defensive driving https://angloamerican.app.box.com/s/pyjclqsu28l60zujm64bt4u4mdw87ya3