In July 2000, the Hills District of Sydney suffered a devastating loss when four teenage boys lost their lives in an horrendous car crash on Old Northern Road, Dural. The accident occurred at what was considered to be a mild bend in the road when the car, driven by a 17 year old who had held his provisional licence for just three weeks, veered onto the wrong side of the road and collided with a four-wheel drive. The car holding the teenagers, which police estimate to have been travelling at 110 kilometres per hour in a 60 kilometre per hour zone, was virtually torn in two.

Shocked by the senseless loss of such young lives, the Hills Rotary clubs in District 9680 set out to help avoid a repetition of this appalling accident in a practical way by establishing and sponsoring a youth driver awareness program.

A public meeting was held in August 2000 where local Rotary clubs, the Salvation Army, the RTA, local police, councils, schools, businesses, Road Safety officers and community groups were well represented. Current Road Safety Education (RSE) CEO/Managing Director Terry Birss and RSE Directors Paul Pixton and John Loughlin, all Rotarians, were at that meeting. Also attending the meeting was Rotarian Bruce Angus, who had successfully run a small country-focussed driver awareness program in the Wingecarribee area called “U-Turn the Wheel”, which gave RYDA its early model.

John Loughlin summarised the early success of RYDA as a combination of good funding, good people and good support coming together to address a need.  Terry Birss added that Rotary attracts people from private enterprise who are particularly good at making things happen – identifying the issues and the resources required and leading the solution. In their favour was strong support from the community, local governments, police and schools who looked to Rotary to lead a change. When asked why a community group took on what might be considered a government problem, Paul Pixton credits Rotary for the speed with which their response happened.

A Committee was formed to develop and adopt a suitable program for roll-out in Sydney. The curriculum and session plans were carefully constructed and refined in close collaboration with the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Transport, the Police Department, the Department of Health and the Department of Fair Trading. The six-session program under the banner “Rotary Youth Driver Awareness” was first introduced in the beginning of 2001 at the Honda Australia Roadcraft Training site in St Ives, Sydney. Approximately 1,200 Year 11 students from six schools in the Hills area attended the program in its inaugural year.
After four years, it became evident that external funding would be needed to bring on staff to ensure RYDA was best practice and to grow its availability. In collaboration with the Rotary District 9680 committee, an independent not-for-profit organisation, now Road Safety Education Limited (RSE), was established. RSE now controls RYDA. While some in Rotary bemoan the change in status and believe other operational models with Rotary still in charge could have been adopted, it remains a fact. That does not mean however that RYDA cannot form the integral part of Rotary youth service that it does, in the same way as the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF).

RYLA Wrap Up and 2027 dates

You can view the 2026 RYLA Wrap up by clicking this link.  

Below are the important dates for the RYLA program next year.

RYLA 2027 - Sunday 4th - Friday 9th April 2027.

RYLA Presentation Dinner - Thursday 8th April 2027.

The application dates will be set at a RYLA committee meeting in August and will be published in the Weekly Roundup, Monthly Bulletin and at ryla9780.org