THE Kalamunda and Districts Junior Football Club (KDJFC) has joined the push to raise awareness of road safety by promoting responsible driving.

The football club held a road safety awareness event on June 28 with the support of WA Police, the Road Safety Commission, City of Kalamunda Mayor Margaret Thomas, Road Safety Minister Reece Whitby and club sponsors.

The event forms part of SportWest’s Best on Road program, which works with sporting clubs across the state to encourage safer driving and positive road safety behaviours, particularly among young people.

The state government recently announced an extra $560,000 to expand the program, bringing its total investment to more than $2.54 million.

The funding will allow SportWest to continue working with clubs and organisations to deliver road safety education through community sport.

The Best on Road program rewards clubs promoting road safety, educates young sporting leaders to share road safety messages with teammates and recognises organisations making outstanding contributions to road safety awareness.

More than 140 sporting organisations and 5500 clubs are connected through SportWest, providing an opportunity to reach hundreds of thousands of participants across the state.

KDJFC took to social media to thank club president Jodie Szabo, committee members, volunteers and supporters for organising the event.

“(There) was two great games to watch with the boys grabbing the win in the last 10 minutes of the game after being down all match,” the club said.

“Thank you, Bayswater and Coolbinia, for putting on good fights.

“Thanks to all those who came down to watch – we can’t wait to do more things like this in the future.”

Mr Whitby said sporting clubs were well placed to promote responsible behaviour because they already played an important role in bringing communities together.

“Sport is a universal language that brings people together on all levels and gets them talking and engaged,” he said.

“There are many parallels in sport that we can apply to road safety with the importance of teamwork, discipline and responsibility to play your part to be successful.”

Mr Whitby said the state government partnership with SportWest was a great way to engage and promote the importance of road safety to a broader audience.

“This expanded partnership now empowers more sporting clubs to be a driving force for change in road safety behaviour and helping to make WA a safer place,” he said.