THE Rotary Youth Driver Awareness (RYDA) program began at the Sapphire Kart Club's Frogs Hollow track last Monday.

The aim of the program is to help teenagers become safer drivers as road crashes are one of the leading causes of injury, disability and death among young people.

Other factors associated with young driver road crashes are driver inexperience, developing brain - young drivers are more likely to experiment and take dangerous risks, over confidence and risk-taking, having friends as passengers, alcohol and other drugs and busy lifestyles - driving tired significantly impairs driving, even if the driver does not feel sleepy.

A total of 190 Year 11 students from Bega and Bombala High Schools attended Monday's RYDA program.

At the close of the program yesterday (Thursday), almost 800 high school students from the Victorian border through to Batemans Bay and Cooma, will have participated in the program.

Each group of students underwent a full day of training, which was divided into six sessions, including stopping distance speeds, hazard perception, safe celebrating and fatigue, financial responsibility of owning and operating a motor vehicle, a police presentation and personal stories from two road accident survivors.

At the conclusion of each day the students were then presented with an information pack containing additional fact sheets, brochures and advice to discuss and share with their parents.

The four day RYDA program was supported by other service clubs from throughout the district, local businesses and the Bega Valley Shire Council.