Buildings, bridges and various icons are being lit up in yellow in towns and cities around New Zealand to draw critical attention to road safety in this week called – Road Safety Week. The lighting of prominent landmarks in yellow is an initiative of the Yellow Ribbon Road Safety Alliance, which includes Road Safety Education Limited (RSE) and its NZ partners BOC, NZ Steel, Bridgestone, VTNZ and Toyota – along with Brake– the Road Safety Charity.
The launch of Road Safety Week was held on the evening of Monday 15th May at the Royal NZ Yacht Squadron with Vector Lights Auckland Harbour Bridge lighting up as part of the launch. Joining them will be the following icons around the country: The Anzac Parade Bridge Hamilton, #I LoveTaupo sign, Clock towers in Ashburton, Stratford, New Plymouth and Carterton, Upper Hutt Fantail, Michael Fowler Centre, Oamaru Opera house, Hawera Water Tower, Trees in Queenstown, and Masterton town square. In addition, a number of businesses and schools will be running Wear Yellow to Work/School days and putting Yellow Ribbons up around towns and handing out local Road Safety Hero Awards.
Loss of life and life-changing injuries should never be accepted as the price we pay for the privilege of using our road system. The Yellow Ribbon Road Safety Alliance asks the community to embrace Road Safety Week as an opportunity to stand in solidarity with those who’ve been critically injured or killed, and the loved ones they leave behind. It’s also an important time to think about what can be done to improve road safety going forward because road safety is everyone’s responsibility.
Road Safety Education’s General Manager NZ Maria Lovelock says: “Death and serious injuries on our roads are all too common and there is a risk we have normalised the price we pay to get to work, visit friends or holiday in our beautiful country. Road Safety Week is a time we can all reflect and pledge to do better, working towards zero lives lost or seriously injured on our roads.” Maria adds: “We hope by associating the colour yellow with this important cause, we’ll create conversation and action for change through a collaborative approach.”
The Yellow Ribbon Road Safety Alliance is getting behind kiwis aiming to reduce the number of lives lost and seriously injured on our roads. The Alliance called for nominations from communities for individuals who go above and beyond in this field of work for the annual Yellow Ribbon Alliance Road Safety Hero Award.
At Monday night’s launch, the winner of this year’s award was announced. Chris Horrocks has spent over 33 years volunteering on the Wairarapa Road Safety Council and as a volunteer member of the local AA; and his dedication has never gone unnoticed. Chris has
always put his hand up for road safety events and without Chris’s support, local road safety campaigns wouldn’t have had anywhere near the same cut through. Chris has been a strong advocate for young drivers, older drivers, community collaborative messages and looking out for people of all ages who are using the road network.
Caroline Perry, Director of Brake says: “We had a number of fantastic nominations, and it was humbling seeing the great work people are doing around the country to help us reduce road trauma. Chris was a standout due to his 33 years of service and we felt it was a fitting tribute to give him the Road Safety Hero award this year.”
Other standout nominations came from all over Aotearoa and included:
• Ruben/Rupene the Road Safety Bear who is the mascot of the Waikato Regional Councils Young Road User Programme. He and his team of presenters visit schools, kura and preschools and kohanga reo across the Waikato region delivering foundation road safety skills lessons.
• Craig Ritchie, a member of the Culverden Volunteer Fire Brigade for over two decades. As well as responding to road accidents in Culverden and surrounding areas. In recent years, Craig’s interest in road safety has extended beyond the Fire Brigade, and he has become a member of the steering group and a Mentor for the Hurunui Community Driver Mentor Programme.
• Karen Gibbons, a volunteer for Brake for around 10 years who has been advocating for road safety since her son was killed in a crash 12 years ago. She has shared her story with media numerous times, alongside messages to help keep others, particularly young drivers and passengers, safe. She has also taken part in videos and other storytelling for Road Safety Week and other activities to help inform others about the consequences of crashes.
Road Safety Education Limited is a not-for-profit organisation that runs best practice road safety programmes for young people throughout NZ and Australia and is the secretariat for the Yellow Ribbon Alliance in NZ. To date over 95,000 young people have attended the RYDA programme in New Zealand. For more information, please visit www.rse.org.nz
