Every year, our students, partners, ambassadors and broader community put their energies behind National Road Safety Week to spread the messages. Here’s how they’ve lent their support.
National Road Safety Weeks were held in Australia and New Zealand from 6 – 12 May 2019 respectively. Here’s how our community got involved.
The Student’s Perspective
RSE’s major partner, Bridgestone, asked students from Southern Cross Campus College what they remember from the RYDA programme and what they would like to see happen during National Road Safety Week. Here’s what they had to say:
Raising awareness with our schools
Students who attend RYDA during Road Safety Week were asked to create a personalised number plate with their pledge to #DriveSoOthersSurvive . Our #speakup megaphones also gave them a handy way to get their road safety messages across.
Raising awareness with our corporate partners
Our corporate partners get right behind Road Safety Week, spreading the word among their staff with the distribution of yellow ribbons and pledge boards and ‘wear yellow to work’ days.
BOC set up a photo booth in the cafe and got some great participation from staff:
National Road Safety Weeks were held in Australia and New Zealand from 30 April – 6 May and 7 – 13 May 2018 respectively. RSE got behind activities and themes in both countries.
In Australia the broad theme was #DriveSoOthersSurvive (with a special focus on vulnerable road users) while in NZ, we’ll focused on raising awareness of seat belts and distractions.
The symbol of Road Safety Week is the Yellow Ribbon and many States in Australia raised awareness by lighting iconic landmarks (including the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Melbourne’s Bolte Bridge) yellow.
Government Support
Yellow Ribbon Road Safety Week receives support from the highest offices of Government.
Read the Australian Governor General‘s Letter of Support here
In Australia, the enormous efforts of RSE’s Ambassador-Advocate, Peter Frazer (SARAH Group) were recognised in parliament with a bipartisan thank you from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Michael McCormack and Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Cities, Tourism, Anthony Albanese.
RYDA provided the perfect backdrop for the ACT launch of National Road Safety week, officiated by Minister for Road Safety, The Hon Shane Rattenbury, MLA. The ACT Government, who have provided generous funding to the RYDA program, further demonstrated their commitment to supporting youth road safety education and got a taste of what students experience when they witnessed a speed and stopping demonstration. Also attending the launch were RYDA Ambassador-Advocate, Peter Frazer (SARAH Group), Rotary District 9710 Governor, Stephen Hill, RSE CEO, Terry Birss, CEO of RSE’s major partner, MTAA Super, Leeanne Turner, representatives from the Australian Federal Police and the ACT Department of Justice and Community Safety and students and teachers from Melba Copland Secondary School.
Raising Awareness with our Schools
Students who attended RYDA during Road Safety Week signed pledge boards and jumped in the ‘yellow’ photo booth for some pics to promote the messages of #DriveSoOthersSurvive #Belton #Phoneoff. Selfie’s were being snapped and posted across Australia and New Zealand from Toowoomba in South Queensland to Auckland, NZ.
Raising Awareness with our Partners
Our corporate partners get right behind Road Safety Week, spreading the word among their staff with the distribution of yellow ribbons and pledge boards and ‘wear yellow to work’ days. Keep checking back during the week to see our updated photo galleries as Corporates across Australia and New Zealand get behind the cause.
BOC set up a photo booth in the cafe and got some great participation for staff (photos 1-4 below) while MTAA Super supported Yellow Ribbon Road Safety Week with a photo booth on ‘wear yellow to work’ Monday (photos 5-8 below)
Working with some familiar faces
We are lucky to have the fantastic support of AMI Insurance as a major partner in New Zealand. It’s great to have friends in high places, because AMI asked a few of their friends from the Canterbury Crusaders, who also happen to be members of the All Blacks, to come along and talk with RYDA students about road safety to raise awareness and shine a spotlight on road safety week.
