South Australia police new road safety centre opens at Adelaide's West Beach Parks after move from Thebarton in 2024

With an improved mock roadway, the new South Australia police road safety centre on Military Road became part of West Beach Parks on Adelaide's coast in 2024.

A new South Australia police road safety centre opened in 2024 at Adelaide’s coastal West Beach, moving from its home at Thebarton barracks from 2013.

The road safety centre would continue its role of educating and developing lifesaving skills for more than 500,000 young people since it first started 40 years previously.

The new state-of-the-art centre, on Military Road, West Beach, would teach around 15,000 students each year. The move to a more public setting was intended to open the centre to the wider community and help spread important road safety messaging.

The new centre, part of the West Beach Parks precinct, featured:
         * an improved mock roadway including an intersection with traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, a roundabout and traffic signs;
         * interactive foyer and classrooms with supervised practical component;
         * driving simulators to highlight the dangers of speeding and using a mobile phone;
         * free bikes and helmets for community members and students to use on the mock roadway;
         * training rooms, bike storage areas, kitchen and other spaces.

The road safety centre delivered more than 1,000 road safety sessions, displays and events to more than 85,000 children, youth and adults at the centre and across South Australia during 2023-2024.

Bookings opened at the new ccntre for a range of free face-to-face classroom sessions, including school crossing monitor training, how to obtain a motorcycle licence and international student driver education. All sessions were free. The road safety centre also produced fact sheets, posters and other resources to promote the fatal five (drink and drug driving, speeding, distraction, seatbelts, dangerous road users) and raise awareness.

School and community groups could book a range of free programmes presented by South Australian police’s road safety section. The section also travelled to regional communities around South Australia to deliver road safety education sessions in schools and community centres.