Students push for positive culture change

Students push for positive culture change this week

SADD Awareness Week for 2010 is well underway with a national theme of ‘Student Movement – pushing for positive culture change’.

During the week, SADD students throughout New Zealand are undertaking activities and campaigns in their schools and communities to promote healthier, safer behaviour and attitudes in relation to alcohol and preventing drink driving.

National Manager for SADD Anna Reid explains that SADD Awareness Week is the pinnacle of a year’s worth of work and activity for their membership nationally. The chosen theme for the week this year is also an important new step for the organisation in tackling the issues facing young people in regards to alcohol more widely.

“We could not be more relevant at this time with the Law Commission report and the law changes announced by Cabinet around drink driving,” says Miss Reid.

“But more than that, our students have also embraced the week and that shows us that alcohol-related harm and the issues and challenges that young people are facing in relation to alcohol and remaining safe are high in young people’s consciousness.

“The week is about encouraging open discussions in communities across New Zealand. Young people are at the heart of the debate on reducing alcohol-related harm and so we want them to be a major part of the conversation on how we as communities and as a society can do better,” she says.

Young people in New Zealand are overrepresented in all key statistics in regards to alcohol-related harm and high on the list of causing death or serious injury for youth is alcohol-related road crashes.

“Young drivers account for 35% of all fatalities caused by drink driving. We are losing young lives in preventable crashes, devastating families and communities in the process and this is what we ultimately want to stop.”

The number of deaths caused by drink driving in 2008 was 119 and in 2009 this figure rose to 138, says Miss Reid.

With the introduction of a zero tolerance for young drivers in early 2011, Miss Reid believes the harm will be reduced. However SADD strongly believes that we cannot rely on the positive changes made by the Government alone and that a culture change is required to achieve safety on our roads.

“As a nation of drivers we can do much better. The loss of life and cost of drink driving is just too high. We hope adults will join our students in pushing for positive change in 2010.”

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