Entries closing for annual New Zealand road safety awards

Entries close soon for New Zealand's road safety equivalent of the Oscars - the 2004 Road Safety Innovation Awards. The awards recognise the achievements of individuals, schools, community groups and businesses in the area of road safety.

Closing on Tuesday 26 October, the entries will be judged by a panel of experts with the winners announced at an awards ceremony in Wellington in February 2005.

The inaugural Road Safety Innovation Awards were held last year. Top prize went to dairy company Fonterra for a safe driving programme which helped to reduce injury accidents among the company's large fleet of milk tankers by 63%.

The winner in each award category receives a cash prize of $2000, with the overall Premier Award winner receiving an additional $3000 cash prize.

There are five categories, plus the premier award:

Road Safety Education Award

Road Safety Community Award

Road Safety in Organisations Award

Road Safety Vehicle Based Award

Road Safety Road Engineering Award

Premier Award

Inspired by the Prince Michael Road Safety Awards in the UK, the New Zealand awards highlight examples of road safety innovation in this country with the aim of encouraging others to follow suit. To be eligible for the awards, innovations must have originated within New Zealand or have been significantly adapted for New Zealand conditions.

Road Safety Awards two of two

The awards are funded by the Road Safety Trust, and administered by the Land Transport Safety Authority. The awards organising committee comprises representatives from the Automobile Association, AA Driver Education Foundation, New Zealand Police, Land Transport Safety Authority and Accident Compensation Corporation.

The Road Safety Trust is a crown entity that receives its funding from a share of the proceeds of personalised licence plate sales. Trustees are appointed by the Minister of Transport.

For more information go to www.roadsafetyinnovationawards.org.nz

Winners of the Road Safety Innovation Awards 2003

School Road Safety

The School Road Safety award was jointly won by North Loburn School for a "sharing our roads" education partnership with local logging truck drivers, and Te Puru School for developing a new parking and turning area for cars and buses, creating a safe environment for kids to come and go from school.

Community Promoter Award

Gisborne-based Community Injury Prevention Unit (CIP) captured the Road Safety Community Promoter Award for developing a drink-driving education programme highlighting the devastating impact of an alcohol-related crash on the life of a promising young local athlete.

Vehicle-based Innovation

This award went to Transport Engineering Research New Zealand (TERNZ) for the development of the world's first 'Static Roll Threshold' calculator, used to measure the stability of heavy vehicles and reduce their likelihood of rolling over.

Road-based Innovation

The award for Road-Based Innovation was won jointly by the Christchurch City Council and electronic signage firm High Technology Systems for a speed control system designed to implement temporary 40km/h speed limits in Christchurch school zones.

Corporate Road Safety

Dairy company Fonterra won this award, and also took out the premier award, for a comprehensive programme aimed at improving the safety of the company's large fleet of milk tankers. This programme helped to reduce injury accidents among the company's tanker fleet by 63%.

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