New Zealand Defence Force
Te Ope Kaatua O Aotearoa

Media Release

4 September 2006

Automobile Association Honours Army Drivers

On Tuesday 5 September, the Automobile Association (AA) will present 13 young Army drivers with the Alchemy Gold certificate to endorse the high standard of vehicle handling they have achieved during their driver training.

The soldiers have recently completed the Army’s driver licensing and vehicle operators course that sees students graduate with a full Class 2 licence and an additional qualification to drive the Unimog. The AA has assessed that the course achieves over 85 points in the Alchemy scheme, and qualifies all who successfully complete the course for Gold status.

Mr Peter Sheppard, the Chief Executive of the AA Driver Education Foundation and chairman of the New Zealand Road Transport and Logistics Industry Training Organisation will present the certificates at Linton Military Camp.

“The Army is very conscious of the need for low risk drivers both for driving on our roads and meeting its operational requirements. The achievement of 85 points is not easy, and drivers are required to work hard to gain their points. International research confirms longer periods of supervised competency based driving, such as the current Army system, enables drivers to enter the driving environment with a much lower level of crash risk” says Peter Sheppard.

The Alchemy Driver Programme has grown to over 3500 participants nation-wide and rewards young drivers for gaining additional driving competency as they progress through the Graduated Driver Licence System. Drivers are required to gain 85 competency-based points through achieving NZQA Driving Unit Standards.

To date 181 New Zealand Army personnel have achieved Gold Status.

ENDS

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