National Leaders speak up on speed
On the 7th December 2023 National Leaders Rachel Slacke and Ryan Antia took the opportunity to express their concerns about speeds around schools at the Transport and Infrastructure committee meeting at the Auckland Town Hall. Our General Manager, Donna, met up with Rachel and Ryan to learn more about what inspired them to speak up about this issue and what they think about road safety in general.
Rachel and Ryan delivered passionate and well researched speeches supporting safer speeds around schools to protect vulnerable road users. You can view their speeches here. They also featured in the NZ Herald, see the article.
Why did you decide to speak to the Transport & Infrastructure Committee about speeds around Schools?
Rachel: I grew up in a rural community with 100km roads outside schools. I witnessed many near misses and unsafe speeds around my school. There are so many hazards that the school students have to navigate. Children are not fully developed and can’t always assess the dangers on the roads and sometimes take risks which can have serious consequences. We need our Government to be setting safe and appropriate speeds around schools to protect our vulnerable road users.
I wanted the committee members to hear my experiences and understand the risks that exist on our roads around schools. I know they can make a difference through the policies they set for speeds.
Ryan: My school is in a busy urban area. Mount Albert Grammar has over 3000 students who use the roads to get to school. I have observed many dangerous driving incidents on these roads and many near misses! I wanted to address these issues and use the youth voice to bring the issues to light and make a change.
My National Leader project is looking at current road safety issues on the roads around my school, such as speed, congestion, unsafe conditions for walking and cycling. I took the opportunity to express my views to the Committee so they understand the youth concerns about safety on our roads and find ways to develop policies to make our roads safer.
Why do you think speeds need to be reduced around our schools?
Rachel: Rural schools on 100km roads are unsafe for children to be on. Child pedestrians were more likely to be badly injured when struck by vehicles. While adults were usually hit at the hip level, children were more likely to be hit in the head or other critical parts of the body.
The faster the speed at which a pedestrian is hit, the more serious their injuries. A pedestrian hit at 30 km/h has a 90% chance of survival, compared with a 20% chance of survival at 50 km/h. Hit at 60 km/h, 0% of pedestrians will survive.
Let’s do some quick maths. We will go to my local primary school, where during school hours, the speed limit is 60 km/h with an average driving reaction time of 1.5 seconds, which assumes the driver is alert, concentrating, and not driving when tired, distracted, or impaired, and say a child steps out on the road 25 metres in front of you. Using physics to calculate the distance, speed, and time, you will still hit this child at 60 km/h; you would need at least 50 m to not hit this child, even without an impaired driver.
Using crash data, they also found that the highest numbers of child pedestrians were injured between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. This is during the prime time that students are walking home. I believe reducing the speeds around schools will decrease the risks.
Ryan: I believe reducing speeds around schools will save lives. We live in a society where people want to get places quickly and don’t want to slow down as they think it will take them longer to get to their destination. But is it worth the risk of hitting a vulnerable child for the sake of saving a few minutes off your journey?
When my parents were a similar age to me they were encouraged to bike and walk to school. Statistics in New Zealand showing that approximately 42% of students walked or biked to school in the late 1980s where communities at the time benefited from decreased car congestion and air pollution. However, these figures do not reflect the current situation in New Zealand where nearly all students are dropped off or bus to school. Our rangatahi should have the same opportunities as the prior generations did which is being able to enjoy the physical and mental benefits of biking or walking to school.
With AT’s proposed Auckland speed management plan for 2024 to 2027 we can make our roads safer for our rangatahi. In Auckland, there are currently over 560 schools with current speed limits that do not make walking, cycling, and scootering as appealing modes of transport, both for children and their parents. But with the proposed speed management plan we will be able to meet the Ministry of Transports target to have safer speeds near 40% of Auckland’s schools by 30th June 2024. We need to build awareness about road safety, it’s not just about reducing speeds its about improving all road users’ attitudes and behaviours on our roads.
What are other risks on our roads you think we need to focus on improving?
Rachel: Driving passengers on restricted licences is a big issue in my community and around the country. When I talk with other National Leaders around New Zealand they all say this is a big issue as well. Young people are 7x more likely to crash on a restricted licence than those on a full licence. It is riskier if they have passengers in the car, passengers are distracting and can apply peer pressure to make the driver take risks they wouldn’t do if they were in the car alone.
Ryan: Drunk driving is still a concern with my peer group and young males showing off in cars to impress their mates. They take risks and increase the risk of crashing. We have no road safety education in schools except for what we do through SADD. We need more support from schools to run more road safety activities to educate young people about the risks of dangerous driving.
If you were in Government what would you prioritise to address our current road safety issues?
Rachel: I would ensure the public understood the risks with speed, that its not just the speed but the risky behaviour that can sometimes accompany speed, like distracted driving, inexperience, poor road conditions etc. We need better policies around speed to set safe and appropriate speed to keep people moving while protecting vulnerable road users. We need more consistency with speeds around the country so people are more likely to stick to the set speed. We also need more reinforcement to ensure people have a deterrent if they break the speed limit.
Ryan: I also think speed is a priority as the slower the speed the less the impact if a crash does occur. Set safe speeds for the road conditions and the environment. There are still some rural roads, windy and gravel that are 100km while some better built roads are only 60km, this doesn’t help people to stick to the limits as they think there is no science behind the setting of the limit. We need to produce better data and educate people about why speeds are set, get the buy in from the community. We also need to ensure we are engineering our roads to encourage safer speeds, especially around schools.
We also need to ensure that SADD is supported in all secondary school throughout NZ so more young people are exposed to road safety education.
What inspired you to become a National Leader?
Rachel: I really wanted to be able to help my community be safer. It is an awesome feeling being able to help youth stay alive and be safe on our roads. I took the opportunity to become a National Leader to work with other like-minded youth to find ways to support our communities across the country. I also want to affect change on a National level and I believe SADD can help me achieve this goal. Being a National Leader helps me to learn more about leadership and to support my peers to also be leaders and to make a difference.
Ryan: I love being able to help my local community be safe and thrive. I am also on the local youth board. Being a National Leader enables me to be able to not only help my community but also on a National scale.
What events and activities do you think have made the most impact your school/community?
Rachel: During Safer September 2023 I organised for the NZ Police to come to our School and educate our peers about sober driving. They brought the ‘Booze Bus’ and we ran activities to educate about the effects of alcohol on driving. It also helped improve the relationship between Police and the students as Police are often viewed in a negative light but by running these activities it helps the community understand why Police enforce rules on our roads. I felt like it made a positive impact on our peers’ attitudes towards driving impaired.
Ryan: During Road Safety Week 2023 I organised a stall at the Youth and Harmony event on behalf of the MP for Mount Roskill, Michael Wood. The purpose of the event was to educate young people about what activities youth can get engaged with in our area, it included all sorts of events including music and arts and we invited other road safety partners to educate young people about being safe on our roads.
In 2024 Kaitiaki o Ara/SADD will be putting the spotlight on youth wellbeing. We will look at ways our activities not only help keep young people safe on our roads but how it impacts other aspects of wellbeing, such as peer pressure, impacts on career choices and making better decisions in life. How do you see this helping young people?
Rachel: It has the potential to help young people see how their decisions can have negative impact on their lives. There is a lot of pressure that can be placed on young people from their peers and family to take risks on the road. Having a focus on the impacts of this pressure can help young people make better choices. There is a lots a lot of negative impact of social media and it can also have serious consequences on our roads, SADD can work with other agencies to help support young people.
Ryan: I think this is great that SADD is looking into the Hauora aspect, as road use impacts many aspects of our wellbeing. Our school is looking at how SADD can fit into the Te Whare Tapa Whā wellbeing model at our school.
SADD will also be highlighting the skills and experience young people gain from being a part of SADD. What skills have you gained so far that will help you in your future endeavours?
Rachel: I have gained many skills since I have been in SADD as a member of the group and as a National Leader. Running the Safer September activity enhanced my project management and organisational skills, problem-solving, marketing, collaboration, networking and leadership skills. The speech for the Transport and Infrastructure committee developed my research skills, presentation, and communication skills. These are all great skills that I will need to apply for future roles.
Ryan: Being a SADD member and National Leader has helped me develop my problem-solving skills, time management, collaboration, marketing, and leadership skills. There are many skills you develop being a part of SADD that can help prepare us for adult life. I also used the SADD conference as part of the residential component for the Duke of Edinburgh Award. SADD has many opportunities to help work towards the different components for the Award.
Thanks so much Rachel and Ryan!