08 Aug 2018 Alexandra Eildon Marysville Standard, Alexandra VIC (General News) AN announcement from VicRoads might make you want to keep a closer eye on your car. In the new initiative, vehicles abandoned on freeways and highways in Victorias North East are being donated to the Victoria State Emergency Service (VICSES) for training. Member for Northern Victoria, Jaclyn Symes, announced the partnership between VicRoads and VICSES on July 30. She said it will put unclaimed vehicles to good use in a range of rescue simulations. Visiting Benalla SES, Ms Symes said the vehicles will be used by the 24 road crash units across the region that respond to incidents. It will aim to help volunteers learn valuable skills such as how to access road crash victims quickly and remove them safely. During this training, teams use the cars to practice with shears better known as the jaws of life spreaders, air bags and a range of other equipment. Prior to this partnership with VicRoads, VICSES struggled to find modern vehicles to practice on and train their volunteers. Were glad to play a small role in helping our SES volunteers train and protect our community and ultimately save lives, Ms Symes said. Putting these unclaimed vehicles to good use makes sense, rather than ending up on the scrap heap, these vehicles will be used to train our hard working SES volunteers. This is also a great example of our government agencies VicRoads and SES working together to save lives. VICSES North East Regional Manager Keith OBrien welcomed the announcement. These nuisance cars, which might otherwise be turned into scrap metal, can now help to improve our volunteer training, and ultimately help us save lives on Victorian roads, he said. Abandoned vehicles that are removed from arterial roads and unclaimed after all reasonable attempts to contact the owner, including a 14-day written notice period, may then be legally acquired by VicRoads pursuant to the Road Management Act 2004.