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Now in its eleventh year, the three day event aims to empower young people to make healthier and safer choices before getting behind the wheel.

NSW Minister for Health Jillian Skinner officially opened the event yesterday and said the NSW Government’s commitment to driving down the state’s road toll would help reduce the number of injured people sent to hospital and the harrowing effects road trauma has on families and the community.

“The road toll and trauma numbers go hand in hand – and NSW is facing what can only be described as a state tragedy when young people make up almost 20 per cent of those killed on our roads this year,” she said.

In 2015, 56 young people aged 17-25 years lost their lives on NSW roads - this year an additional 28.

bstreetsmart co-founders and Westmead trauma nurses Stephanie Wilson & Julie Seggie said the forum had gone from strength to strength, growing from just 460 students in 2005 to 18,000 students in 2015. This year 23,000 students from 191 schools are registered to attend the potentially life-saving event.

“With support from the NSW Government, NSW Emergency Services, sponsors and organisations who donate their time and resources we’re able to continue to work towards what we set out to achieve – saving young lives and preventing life-long injuries.”

“Today is about providing young people with a deeper understanding of the consequences of risky driving - in the hope that it will trigger them to make smarter, safer decisions as drivers and ensure that they never have to end up in our care,” Ms Wilson said.

Through the NSW Centre for Road Safety, $1 million dollars over four years has been committed to the bstreetsmart forum.

NSW Centre for Road Safety Executive Director Bernard Carlon said its role in the education partnership with bstreetsmart was to raise awareness of the serious issues that affect young drivers such as speed, drink-driving, mobile-phone distraction and fatigue.

"We know the most dangerous time for young drivers is their first six months of driving solo on their P-Plates, when they are around nine times more likely than a learner to be involved in a casualty crash,” he said.

“bstreetsmart supports what students learn as part of our road safety education program in schools – helping students understand the issues they face as drivers and passengers.”

“Our shared commitment with the education sector is one of the key partnerships that we invest in to help reduce the road toll,” he said.

The bstreetsmart forum features real-life, graphic examples of road crash scenarios, interactive displays, speaker sessions from road trauma survivors and presentations from road safety experts.

Teachers are also encouraged to visit the “On the Move” lounge where they are able to meet with road safety education specialists to discuss road safety teaching and learning ideas.

The event takes place at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena from Tuesday August 16 until Thursday 18^th August.

For more information about the bstreetsmart programme visit the website below.