LIONS Club member and Driver Reviver coordinator Jenny Trunk says ideally they need six volunteers to cover the 13 days they will be operating over the Christmas period.
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So if you do the math they could do with some assistance to man the Singleton Driver Reviver stop located within the Visitor Information and Enterprise Centre at Townhead Park.
“It’s not a big job; you just have to serve coffee, tea and cold drinks to weary travellers,” she explains.
“We also have biscuits and cake but you only have to do a two-hour stint.”
This very important service to the community will run from December 18 right through to December 31 but will, of course, close on Christmas Day.
Mrs Trunk says it is still very important to stop when you are driving long distances even though modern cars are comfortable.
“Driving in modern cars is like being in your lounge room, most have DVDs and other gadgets to the kids entertained,” she says.
“But this does not combat fatigue.”
“People are attempting to do very long trips without stopping,” fellow volunteer Judith Langbein adds.
Mr Trunk also says it is also important not to use your mobile phone while driving, unless you have a hand free set up.
“The RMS is targeting this behaviour during the festive season,” she says.
Putting her thumb up, the dedicated volunteer displays a small plastic red ring with the words ‘Get your hand off it’ clearly visible. This is the tagline of the successful campaign that began online in June 2013, and was accompanied by targeted NSW police initiatives on the use of mobile phones while driving.
The use of mobile phones while driving is a growing issue that research shows could be a significant contributing factor in road crashes in the state.
Crash data from 2010 to 2014 showed there were 236 crashes where hand-held mobile phone use by drivers was identified as a contributing factor, this included seven fatal crashes and 116 injury accidents.
These crash numbers are considered to be under-reported because of the difficulty of finding evidence of illegal mobile phone use at scenes, which suggests the size of the problem could be much greater.
If you can help our local Lions Club, phone Jenny Trunk on 0409 347 247.
They will also have information on hand about driving conditions and the road works that are in progress along the coast.
