Pupils taught to be seen and keep safe

The Northland Wood Council and local forestry companies are touring primary schools around the district to teach students how to Be Safe & Be Seen around trucks.

Kerikeri-based Northland Forest Managers sent a couple of their staff and contractors to assist with the Kerikeri Primary School visit, where Ian Newey, from the Northland Wood Council, explained what a blindspot was and how important it was for cyclists, pedestrians and other drivers to make themselves visible to the truck driver.

The children learned that if they couldn’t see the driver then the driver couldn’t see them, before being put into groups with NFM staff and drivers. Having stood behind the trucks, and established that they couldn’t see the mirrors, they were given the chance to sit in the cab and see for themselves just what a driver can and can’t see behind them.

The programme will continue throughout the year, predominantly visiting rural schools that are on or close to log truck routes.