Celebrating Student Road Safety Volunteers
Downtown Mount Maunganui will be awash with orange on
Thursday, 30 November as over 800 primary and intermediate
school students march and wave banners in the Schools’
Road Safe Orange Walk.
The event is a joint
initiative between Travel Safe (Tauranga City and Western
Bay of Plenty District Councils) and New Zealand Police with
generous support from Road Safe Traffic Management. The
event has been held annually since 2007 and will make its
first appearance in Mount Maunganui this year, after being
cancelled due to weather in 2022.
Anna
Somerville: Tauranga City Council Transport Network Safety
& Sustainability Manager says the event is a chance to
celebrate and reward the contribution of student volunteers
for their important road safety work throughout the
year.
“Schools’ Road Safe Orange
Walk is a fantastic opportunity to acknowledge the efforts
of our Travel Safe and Travel Smart students, and road
patrols who work hard to ensure their peers can get to and
from school safely. It gives students a voice and helps
raise awareness of road safety and active travel around
schools.”
The sheer number of hours
volunteered by the school road patrols each year paints an
incredible picture of the volume of work across the region.
Forty-three crossings operate for fifty minutes a day,
two-hundred days of the year for a staggering 7,160
collective hours per-year.
Jim Paterson:
Western Bay of Plenty District Council Transportation
Manager says the collective goal is to promote safe and
sustainable travel in our region - educating drivers and
pedestrians on how to share the road
responsibly.
“Road safety is a key issue
for our community, and that's why we support the annual Road
Safe Orange Walk. This year promises to be no different to
the others, with plenty of fun and colour to raise awareness
and education about how to stay safe on the
roads.
“Together, we can make our roads
safer for everyone.”
Senior Sergeant Wayne
Hunter: Western Bay of Plenty New Zealand Police says a
highlight of the day is the banner competition and judges
will have a hard time on their hands if previous years’
entries are anything to go by.
“The
effort and creativity that the students put into their
banners is amazing. These kids have a real awareness of the
roads around their schools, and the safety and active travel
messages they are sharing are very relevant to them and
their communities.”
The day begins
at Coronation Park at 9:15am with speeches from Commissioner
Bill Wasley and Western Bay of Plenty Mayor James Denyer.
The walk starts at 9:30am, following a route along Maunganui
Road, around the roundabout at Pacific Avenue and back to
the start. Temporary road closures will be in
place.
Friends, family, locals, and
visitors are encouraged to line the route, make some noise,
and show their support for the
students.
After the walk the students
will make their way to Baywave for a swim and a celebratory
BBQ cooked by the police.
For event updates visit facebook.com/travelsafebop.