18 April 2005

Road safety knowledge pays off for Thames grandmother

A run of bad luck ended for Thames grandmother of six Cheryl Knuckey when she took a few minutes to learn about road safety and won a new five star safety rated car.

After being made redundant five weeks ago, Ms Knuckey recently took part in Land Transport New Zealand’s road safety education initiative Up to Scratch. She had her eyes opened to the role of speed and alcohol in road deaths, and she's been rewarded with a new $45,000 Toyota Avensis GX Wagon for taking part in the scratch test education campaign.

Along with six road rule questions, the Up to Scratch test Ms Knuckey completed included information and questions about the proportion of fatal accidents involving speed and alcohol, and seatbelt wearing rates.

“It’s a really useful thing to do,” Ms Knuckey said of the scratch test. “It’s not difficult, but it got me thinking and I would definitely recommend that other drivers take a few minutes to refresh their road safety knowledge.”

Up to Scratch gives Kiwi drivers the chance to test their knowledge of the road rules and other road safety-related information, and to win safety-related prizes. Up to Scratch test papers are delivered to motorists with vehicle registration and change of vehicle ownership papers, driver licence renewal forms and when a vehicle passes its Warrant of Fitness.

Drivers who get nine out of ten questions right can enter draws for a Toyota Avensis and other prizes.

“Every three months a driver receives a new Toyota Avensis, and another 860 win secondary prizes including new sets of tyres and wheel alignments from Beaurepaires, or driving lessons, pre-purchase vehicle inspections, AA memberships, travel guides and petrol vouchers from the Automobile Association,” Land Transport New Zealand Acting General Manager Communications and Education Lynne Heasman said.

“In the 13 months that Up to Scratch has been running 930,000 entries have been received. The response rates are about three times that expected for this sort of initiative.

”The more people who take the test, the more people who are out there brushing up on their road safety knowledge, and that's good for everyone on the road,” Ms Heasman said.

ENDS

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