A positive and empowering website dedicated to raising awareness and educating drivers on how to safely approach and pass a horse on the road, has been launched by Pass Wide & Slow New Zealand. A site full of knowledge, stories and resources.

“We have found statistics on the number of people killed whilst riding on our roads, and it’s far worse than we ever thought. It’s an unspoken section of our road toll that will no longer be allowed to go unnoticed. One death is too many” says PWASNZ Kaupapa Lead Julia McLean

PWASNZ is dedicating resource to sharing riders road riding incidents on our community BLOG.

“The biggest impact and something I will never forget is a call from my best friend’s mother that my 16-year old friend is dead. She and her horse had been hit by a car, “can you come, can you come.” Lee Blog extract

“On December 13, 2024 my life changed and the aftermath of it all means a long personal recovery for me, and experiencing first hand a system that is broken for horse riders. I don’t say that lightly but the facts speak for themselves.” Jessica BLOG extract

PWASNZ is creating targeted road safety material, and uniting equestrian advocacy both here and abroad.

The Māori philosophy Kotahitanga-Unity underpins PWASNZ advocacy because road safety is a collective responsibility. It requires everyone to work together to reduce trauma, injury and death on the road. It’s an international problem and we are looking at what other countries are doing to inform our advocacy in Aotearoa New Zealand.

PWASNZ would like to thank every road safety stakeholder, organisation and individual that has committed its support to this important mahi.

“NZ Police has enjoyed being invited to support the Pass Wide and Slow campaign. It is a positive initiative without asking the community for more than to slow a little and give other road users some space –we can make someone else’s journey safer.” Rural Manager Inspector Dave Martin

PWASNZ is made up of a small team of road safety advocates, and with no road safety budget, relies solely on the generosity of individuals' time, skill and sponsorship.

Ngā mihi kia koutou katoa - to those who have helped make this work possible - A special acknowledgment regarding the website creation to PWASNZ brand creator Eve Marketing Strategist who collaborated with Developer Hannah James of Volar Creative and to Protranz and Whiterock Quarry for sponsoring the annual website hosting cost.

We have content and instructions available to anyone who wants to manaaki / support this work. Our distribution strategy relies on the generosity of organisations, companies and influencers using their platforms and databases to reach as many as possible - 43 reported deaths since 2000 is too great of a loss to ignore.

passwideandslow.co.nz | passwideandslownz@gmail.com

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