Editorial: Shocking our kids worthwhile

Sometimes the only way to get a point across is to shock people.

You can spend a long time beating around the bush, but often it is better to tell it how it is.

That certainly seems to be the aim of the organisers of the Hawke's Bay Youth Expo to get the road safety message across. The annual event, which is on this week, is organised by RoadSafe Hawke's Bay and this year the theme was the impact of texting while driving.

My eldest daughter went to the Expo with her school on Monday and it made quite an impression on her. She said it was "brutally honest" and "did not hold back" in showing horrific accidents.

It was real shock treatment and sometimes that is what is needed. The youngsters in our community need to know exactly what the implications are of dangerous driving.

The organisers of the expo also asked students questions on the first day to get an understanding of young people's views on the issues. Expo organiser and RoadSafe Hawke's Bay manager Linda Anderson said one question asked this year was if students considered cellphone use in a car as dangerous as drink driving. She said the fact they did was a good sign.

However, the answer to whether or not students would get into a car if they knew the driver had been drinking or taking drugs was slightly worrying. Many said it would depend on who was driving. Organisers are hoping this changes by the end of the Expo.

As a community, we need to support initiatives like the Youth Expo as they force children to confront the consequences of reckless and irresponsible behaviour. It is better to have a shocked or uncomfortable student learning from gory accident images than having them become just another statistic.