Whitsunday Braking The Cycle Hits The Road

The Braking The Cycle program put pedal (safely) to the metal on Tuesday morning with its first learner driver heading out on the roads.

The Whitsunday PCYC led program is aimed at helping young people achieve their mandatory 100 hours of supervised driving to obtain a license.

The very first lesson at the local PCYC branch paired volunteer Steve Fraser with Kayla Glossop, a 16-year-old learner driver who did not have the resources available to learn the valuable skill.

Mr Fraser signed up for Braking the Cycle after retiring from a career in employment services, where he had been “barracking for programs just like it.”

“I thought, having retired now, I would be a bit of a numbskull to not volunteer for a program like this,” Mr Fraser laughed.

“I’m excited. What it’s all about is 70 per cent driving and getting these kids independent, and 30 per cent getting to know the learner, just talking to them about whatever they have going on in their lives.”

The program has run across PCYC branches Queensland wide and was designed for instances where a family may just have one car, both parents work full-time, or a slew of other reasons, which is where the volunteers – usually retirees with life experience, who often become role models – drop in.

Ms Glossop said she was excited to be the first participant in the Whitsunday PCYCs iteration of Braking the Cycle.

“It will give me independence and not having to rely on my parents to go places, a lot of freedom,” she said.

Interested volunteers or participants can contact the Whitsunday PCYC  to ‘Brake the Cycle’ on (07) 4948 1144.Police Sergeant Billy Li, learner driver Kayla Glossop.

‍Braking the Cycle volunteer Steve Fraser, and PCYC Braking the Cycle Program Coordinator Declan Coull before Kayla’s first driving lesson

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