Rescue crews beat up new Holdens

Holden has donated 70 cars to assist in skill and knowledge development when rescuing car occupants involved in road crashes.

The cars include current-model Commodore, Caprice, Cruze and Captiva and have been donated to the Australasian Road Rescue Organisation (ARRO) as part of the 2012 Australasian Rescue Challenge held in Hobart from April 26 to 29.

The challenge involved 21 teams responding to more than 60 simulated emergency situations designed to improve emergency response skills, including rescue and medical treatment, for injured motor vehicle occupants.

“Refreshing the skills of the road rescue teams with the latest technology is critical. That’s why over the last 12 years Holden has donated nearly 1000 vehicles, giving the emergency services access to the most recent models out on the road,” said Holden’s Director of Government Relations and Internal Communications, Matt Hobbs.

“We believe that safety on our roads comes down to four factors; safe driving, safe cars, safe roads and the everyday heroes who have been trained to save lives.

“It is the outstanding work of these men and women that goes a long way towards reducing the road toll” he continued.

Holden has also collected information from the event to be fed back to the company’s safety engineering group via specialist engineer Derek Scott, who is also giving advice on the latest vehicle safety systems.

The doomed cars are not exactly brand new. They have been selected from vehicles used by Holden for engineering evaluation and are not for public sale.

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