Learner driver mentors wanted

VICROADS are asking for volunteers with a full licence to consider mentoring young learner drivers.

The Salvation Army in Bendigo is the municipality’s provider of the Transport Accident Commission’s L2P program, a free service aimed educating and matching mentors with those getting behind the wheel for the first time.

Denise Sibenaler is the local L2P program coordinator and said the organisation is currently looking for about 30 more mentors.

Ms Sibenaler said at any given time Bendigo L2P has about 50 mentors and 100 learner drivers on the books.

“Over the last year we’ve supported over a hundred young people get hours in the car,” she said.

“We probably need about another 30, because we’ve got about 100 young people on our waitlist.

“There is a one-day training session that we do have to do which is with the Department of Transport who’s our program managers, to help prepare them to be a supervising driver, and we run those once a month.”

According to Ms Sibenaler, there are a variety of reasons why people choose to become mentors.

“Often people who’ve worked with young people or people who’ve seen in their life road trauma or poor driving habits and want to change that, people who love driving, it’s just something they really enjoy,” she said.

“There’s actually a huge demand out there, you don’t think about it until you go yeah actually how do those kids get their hours, because they actually don’t have anyone to be able to take them.”