24 August 2004

Inaugural conference signals commitment to community road safety

The Land Transport Safety Authority is taking its commitment to communities seriously by hosting the first ever Community Road Safety Conference at Waipuna Conference Centre from Wednesday 25th August to Friday 27th August.

The conference brings together more than 300 representatives of New Zealand’s key community organisations in both a geographical and cultural sense. Attendees will include those working in the field of road safety injury prevention for local and regional councils, Police, ACC, public health and LTSA.

Professor Ian Johnston, Director of the Monash University Accident Research Centre in Victoria, Australia will reinforce the potential of communities to improve road safety in his keynote address on Wednesday morning.

“We are just starting to realise the real power of the community – the power to drive government commitment and to influence the way institutions behave. We must ensure that this potential is realised,” said Professor Johnston.

Other speakers include Maori and Pacific community leaders, experts on road safety and community interventions, as well as LTSA staff with a wide variety of expertise to assist communities in ‘grassroots’ road safety activity.

“Community road safety programmes are a New Zealand success story, and they play a very important role in our overall strategy for reducing death and injury on the roads. But we must constantly search for new ideas and strive for improvements – this conference can help achieve that goal,” said Liz Taylor-Read, General Manager of Communications and Education for the LTSA.

ENDS

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