Media Release: 1 JULY 2013

AA aim to improve road safety with free driving lesson offer

The NZ Automobile Association will offer a free driving lesson to learner drivers in Hamilton and Tauranga in a new initiative to help make our roads safer.

In a three-month pilot project, a free professional driving lesson will be available to drivers who have held their learner licence for less than two months and are either AA Members or the sons or daughters of AA Members.

After the pilot the AA plans to roll the programme out gradually across New Zealand as part of its commitment to bolster driving skills, improve behaviours and build positive attitudes behind the wheel.

AA Driving School head Nigel Clark says in 2012 the government introduced a tougher driver testing regime as one element of its Safer Journeys road safety strategy.

“The Safer Journeys framework is designed to create a safer road system increasingly free of death and serious injury, but the flipside of a tougher driver testing regime is a higher failure rate,” Mr Clark says.

“The tougher test is about reducing the deaths and injuries on our roads. The higher testing standards mean learner drivers need to take more time to develop their skills and build a solid foundation for safe driving.”

Mr Clark says professional driver training is the best way to meet the higher driving standards set by the government.

“Professional driver training provides the best opportunity to prepare during the period between getting a learner licence and sitting the practical driving test for a restricted licence.”

Mr Clark says car crashes are the leading cause of death for New Zealanders aged between 16 and 20 and more than a third of all fatal road crashes involve a driver between the age of 16 and 24.

“Too many young people are dying on our roads and the AA’s initiative is our way of helping to change this.”

During the free lesson pilot programme, the AA is offering the sons and daughters of AA Members, or AA Members themselves, a free driving lesson with an AA driving instructor. The programme is designed for novice drivers, which for the purposes of the pilot, are defined as people who have held their learner licence for no more than two months.

The hour long lesson will provide the student with an introduction on key driving skills, how to set up a car for driving, an explanation on instruments, gauges and vehicle controls, moving off, stopping, steering, gears and basic intersection types.

Mr Clark says driver education is a cornerstone of the AA and forms one of its strategic priorities.

“Our commitment to driver training reflects our belief that professional driver training improves the skill set and attitude of learner drivers, which will make them safer motorists.

“We expect to learn a lot with our three-month pilot programme and once it’s complete, we’ll have a better sense of how to conduct a national roll out of the programme for all AA Members or their children.”

Mr Clark says it is likely the national roll out will begin at the conclusion of the pilot programme and be available is most of the country where AA driving instructors are available by early 2014.

Free driving lesson eligibility:

· Living in Hamilton or Tauranga

· Hold a learner licence for less than two months

· A current AA Member or son/daughter of an AA member

To apply for a free driving lesson call 0800 223 199 or go online at aa.co.nz/free-driving-lessons

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