Narrandera and Leeton Shire Councils, in collaboration with the Rotary clubs of Leeton, Leeton Central and Griffith, are welcoming senior high school students to the 2026 Ryda program, which will be conducted at Yanco from Tuesday, 10 to Thursday, 12 March.

Year 11 students from across the region will travel to Yanco Agricultural Institute to participate in Road Safety Education’s award-winning road safety program, which will challenge the way they view themselves and their choices as both young drivers and passengers.

The Ryda program is a series of practical and powerful workshops that provide students a unique opportunity to learn about behavioural and technical factors associated with road safety at a critical time in their lives.

It takes each student one school day to complete the program.

Narrandera Shire Council’s road safety officer, Rebecca Cassimatis, said the program empowers students to make good choices, whether they are the driver or passenger in a vehicle.

“It gives them practical tools and strategies to use while travelling on our roads to contribute to the safety of themselves and other road users around them,” she said.

Participating students will come from schools across the region, including Narrandera, Leeton, Yanco, Barellan, Griffith, Hay, Hillston, Coleambally, Lockhart, Oaklands, Ardlethan, Ariah Park, and Balranald.

This is the 19th year Ryda has been delivered in Yanco, with more than 6200 local students having attended the program.

More than 500 students are registered for this year’s event, which has been attended by more than 900,000 students throughout Australia and New Zealand since its rollout in 2001.

Overseen by an expert educational advisory board and regularly evaluated to ensure validity, the program focuses on the best practices in road safety education.

Locally, it is supported by Rotary, NSW Police Force through Youth Command and Murrumbidgee Police District - Traffic and Highway Patrol, Narrandera and Leeton Shire Councils, MIA Advanced and Defensive Driver Training and Yanco Agricultural Institute.

For more details call Rebecca Cassimatis on (02) 6959 5589.