Keep an eye out for heroes on the road

Media Release
 
 

Monday, 8 February 2010

Keep an eye out for heroes on the road

Over the next ten months the hunt is on for highway heroes on New Zealand roads.

Established in 1999 by the New Zealand Police in association with Beaurepaires, NZ Trucking magazine and the NZ Transport Agency, the Beaurepaires’ Highway Heroes awards have been recognising professional truck, coach and bus drivers around the country for their good deeds performed on the job.

“Drivers are nominated by the public throughout the year and a supreme year winner is awarded at the end of the year by a panel of judges,” Jamie Stewart, marketing manager for Beaurepaires who manage the programme said.

“In our experience drivers rarely see themselves as heroes and it takes members of the Police, work colleagues or the public to nominate them. Many of the nominations in the past have related to the aftermath of accidents, but there are also acts of bravery or humanity where drivers have gone out of their way to assist fellow road users and instances where driving skills have avoided catastrophic accidents.

“We encourage anyone who witnesses such an incident to make a nomination. All we require is the name of the driver or a suitable identifier like a truck company and truck number, a description of the event and contact details of the nominator,” he said.

Last year’s 2009 Beaurepaires Highway Hero was Tokoroa logging truck driver Simon Anania, who was presented with a $5,000 cheque for his quick and level thinking upon coming across an accident involving another truck and a motorbike at 1.30 am on his route.

Nominations are now open for the Year 2010 Award. They can be made by anybody who feels there has been an act of genuine benefit to others on the road - as long as the driver is a professional and the act or incident happens while they are "on-the-job".

In the past, monthly Highway Heroes have included truck driver Jason Lyall saving a colleague from a charging bull in stock yards near Balclutha (October 2005), three bus drivers, Yasser Ahmad, Thomas Roebuck and Ralph Davies, cornering a car being chased by police in Christchurch (October 2007) and countless other incidents where professional drivers have put themselves in danger to save the lives of others on the road.

The Beaurepaires Highway Heroes Award is open to any professional truck, bus or coach driver who performs brave, heroic or humanitarian acts in the course of their work. Heroes can be nominated by anyone through any Beaurepaires store, the local Police station or online at www.highway-heroes.co.nz.

Be on the look out for a hero; there’s a set of car tyres for the nominator of the supreme winner.

ends

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