Get ready for this year’s Road Safety Heroes relay
The challenge is on for Northland businesses, community groups and individuals to register for the 2024 Road Safety Heroes relay.
The free May 24 event around the Loop in Whangārei is backed by Northland Road Safety Trust, Northland Transportation Alliance, Plunket and the police.
“Organisations and individuals are invited to come and participate in the Road Safety Hero relay to celebrate our heroes in road safety and raise awareness for the challenges we face around road safety in Northland,” Northland Road Safety Trust manager Ashley Johnston said.
“We want people to enter relay teams for our traditional Road Safety Hero walk around the Loop but we fully expect the competitive nature of our first responders to kick in and make a race of it. We want to continue growing this event and would love hundreds of people to join us on May 24.”
Johnston said it was important to continually bring focus to the need for safer habits on our roads, as Northland’s unacceptably high road toll continues to grow.
As part of the annual Road Safety Week, she said bringing the community together for the Road Safety Hero Relay was a chance to focus on better and safer behaviour from all road users.
Locals are asked to register online and meet at the Canopy Bridge at 12.30pm on May 24 and be ready for a 1pm start.
The event will begin with a karakia from Raurimu School, followed by an acknowledgement of the 38 lives lost to road crashes in Northland last year, before the relay starts.
Northland road policing manager Inspector Anne-Marie Fitchett said the 2024 road toll was already too high in the region.
“We’ve had 18 people die on our roads which is more than one a week to date. Our driving culture in Northland needs to drastically change,” Fitchett said.
“We can’t keep up the belief that ‘it won’t happen to me’ or ‘I’m an experienced driver so I can safely speed’. Too many have fallen victim to that attitude in Northland,” she said.
“Rather than just blaming the roads, let’s adjust our behaviour so we can all be safe.
“The hurt to Northland families following crashes is immense and often lasts a lifetime. Making good driving decisions relies on a clear head, following the law and considering the impact of our driving on others,” she said.
“If we choose not to wear a seatbelt, we will have minimal protection in a crash (however it is caused). If we drive while impaired, we can’t possibly hope to react in the way we need to. And if we speed, there is less time to react. Let’s learn these lessons now rather than the devastating hard way.”
There were more than 1650 transport related hospitalisations in Northland last year alone, with 187 people needing hospital treatment for more than three nights. Of those who died on Northland roads in 2023, two were aged between 0-14 years, six between 15 and 19, two between 20 and 24 years, 13 between 25 and 39, seven aged 40 to 59 and eight over 60 years old.
Johnston said during the days leading up to the Road Safety Week Heroes relay, child restraint workshops would be held around Whangārei, with qualified technicians on hand to answer questions and ensure car sets are installed correctly.