Record turnout for national conference of Students Against Driving Drunk (SADD)

This year brings a huge turnout at the annual National Conference for Students Against Driving Drunk (SADD) beginning in Christchurch this Sunday 11 July.

Around 157 high school students from all over New Zealand are giving up the first week of their holidays to discuss ways to beat the problem of teen drink driving.

The conference, being held at Living Springs Conference Centre in Canterbury, is an excellent opportunity for students to share ideas and experiences. Drink driving is a serious issue that affects hundreds of families each year, and SADD recognises the positive and vital role young people play in reducing alcohol-related crashes.

"The power that young people have to make positive behaviour changes is awesome. While the 15 – 24yr age group is still very much over-represented in the road toll, the drive sober message is being picked up," says National SADD Co-ordinator, Chloe Johnston.

"The great turn-out at this conference should be seen as an encouraging step in the right direction. When these students go back to their communities, they will be full of ideas and the motivation to spread the word that drinking and driving is not acceptable."

This year’s National Conference will be opened by Tamati Paul, a talented sportsman who had to learn to walk again after his vehicle was hit by a drunk driver, leaving him with multiple severe injuries and brain damage.

SADD is a national non-profit organisation governed by the AA Driver Education Foundation. It delivers peer-based education programmes in secondary schools throughout New Zealand.

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