With everything going on in the world right now you will no doubt be familiar with terms like “social distancing” and “self-isolation”. There are events and gatherings being cancelled left, right and centre (including our very own conference season sob) and we are all being told to stay away from public places where possible. But where does this leave the SADD programme?

Rest assured that although we have had to make some gutting decisions like cancelling our conferences, the SADD programme is still alive and kicking. A huge drawcard of our programme is that it is designed to be flexible and adaptable and times like this are a great example of how you can still make something work for you and your community. No matter what is going on in the world, road safety remains an issue that needs targeting and we encourage our members to continue spreading positive messages. We’ve gathered some tips for working from a distance and some activity and campaign ideas that you can run in the coming weeks or months that can be done while maintaining at least 1.5 meters between people.

Get digital! There are some awesome tools out there that can be used to help you connect with others. Facebook, Instagram and email are some obvious ones but there are also tools like Skype and Google Hangouts where you can hold SADD committee meetings via video, and Google Classroom where you can set up message boards to make plans, share documents and post messages to a group.

Social media is an awesome tool not only for planning but for spreading messages. Start a Facebook or Instagram page for your school’s SADD group and post road safety stats, discussion questions and invite others to share their views. Our conversation cards are a great resource for discussion questions – you can order these for free on our website.

Start a poster design comp! Challenge students to pick one of the SADD 6 Principles and create a poster that shares a positive message to do with that principle. You could host the comp through a Facebook event and ask teachers or the SADD team to help you pick a winner.

There’s never been a better time to check out SADD’s Driver Education Package. This is a growing document that is focused on supporting SADD students to become advocates for the learn to drive process for their fellow students. We encourage you to promote tools such as the AA practice tests, share the importance of getting professional lessons and encourage your peers to download the DRIVE app. You can find more information about the Driver Education Package here.

There’s so much uncertainty in the air at the moment but your SADD group doesn’t need to put things on hold – there are so many more ways you can stay involved. We are working hard to update our activities and website resources, create new opportunities and continue to provide support for our members across the country so keep an eye out for new campaigns and initiatives coming soon. In the meantime, stay safe, share those SADD messages and wash your hands!