The Yellow Ribbon Road Safety Alliance is proud to announce that Senior Constable Kenneth (Ken) Terry has been awarded the prestigious Annual Yellow Ribbon Road Safety Hero Award. This accolade recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exceptional dedication to promoting road safety within their communities.

Senior Constable Terry, is a school community officer working with over 40 schools in North Canterbury and has been with NZ police for over 38 years and as a school community officer for over 13 years. His tenure in road safety work with NZ Police as a SCO is one of the key reasons he was chosen from over 30 other nominations. He was nominated by the Canterbury / West Coast Automobile Association District Council, who noted Ken has been the driving force behind the highly successful "Be Safe Be Seen" cycle light initiative for school children.

Mark White – AA Canterbury/West Coast Councillor and nominator of Ken said “NZ Police are very fortunate - as are we as parents and grandparents - to have an individual like Ken who lives and breathes children's safety. Ken is talked about in such high regard in schools and in our wider community. Ken's passion for road safety and his genuine concern for the wellbeing of our children have made him an invaluable asset to our community. This award is a small but fitting recognition of his tremendous contributions.”

The "Be Safe Be Seen" initiative, which involves distributing cycle lights to school children, has received overwhelmingly positive feedback. The program's success is a testament to Ken’s dedication and his ability to engage with the community, particularly the schoolchildren who eagerly participated in the road safety education classes and light giveaways.

John Skevington – AA Canterbury/West Coast Council Chairperson (who has spearheaded the AA bike lights project, whole-heartedly supported by other AA Councillors like Mark White) affirmed: “Having police officers like Ken has been essential to getting our AA bike lights project off the ground. Ken is loved and trusted by the children and their parents. It’s been a lot of fun and a great privilege working with him and other Community Constables in Canterbury to roll out this road safety initiative to children who ride bikes to school.”

The Yellow Ribbon Road Safety Alliance is honoured to recognise Senior Constable Ken Terry for his outstanding dedication and unwavering commitment to road safety, His work exemplifies the spirit of our Road Safety Hero Award, and we extend our deepest gratitude for his ongoing efforts to make our roads safer for everyone.

His award was announced last night at the official launch of Road Safety Week in Wellington, attended by the Hon. Minister Simeon Brown and will be presented on Thursday 23rd May at the Yellow Ribbon Road Safety Alliance Hui in Auckland.

The Yellow Ribbon Road Safety Alliance Hui will be the first of its kind and will focus on highlighting four projects from the different pillars of the Safe System which are contributing to reducing road trauma. Topics will cover all areas of the Safe System looking at:

• Roads and Roadsides – Creating safer roads and roadsides – This session will focus on infrastructure project and the safety results seen to date – presented by Beca
• Speed – Outcomes from Auckland’s safe speeds programme – This presentation will look at the monitoring and evaluation of Auckland’s speed programme, and share some of the outcomes to date – presented by Auckland Transport
• Advancements in Vehicle Safety: How Technology Drives Safer Roads –The focus will be on how these advancements positively contribute to reducing accidents and saving lives. – presented by Toyota
• Road users –Does road safety education work? Hear about recent studies and best practise methods to change road user behaviour – presented by Road Safety Education Limited

About the Yellow Ribbon Road Safety Alliance

The Yellow Ribbon Road Safety Alliance was set up in NZ in 2016 by Road Safety Education Limited (a charity which runs road safety education programmes for high school students) and Brake (a road safety charity which supports victims of road trauma and works to prevent road death and serious injury). The Alliance was set up based on a similar initiative in Australia. The current partners of the Alliance include Road Safety Education Limited (Secretariat), Brake, BOC, NZ Steel, Bridgestone, VTNZ, Toyota, Driving Change Network and Living Streets Aotearoa.

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