Media statement | 22 May 2007

New Zealand icon wins NZ road safety award

A quarter-century of dedication to protecting Kiwi kids in cars has earned the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society the Road Safety General Category award in this year's New Zealand Road Safety Innovation and Achievement Awards.

In the space of a generation, child restraint use in New Zealand has increased from 20 percent to over 90 percent, thanks in large part to the iconic Plunket Car Seat Rental Scheme.

In 1978, just 20 percent of New Zealand children under age five travelled in appropriate car seats. Plunket identified low levels of restraint use as a significant issue, and in 1981 launched a pilot scheme in Dunedin to get all babies into child car restraints.

Today, thanks to the hard work and dedication of a network of 250 coordinators, the Plunket Car Seat Rental Scheme is available to parents nationwide, with over 26,000 infant and child restraints available for hire. Child restraint use has increased to 91 percent, and the annual injury and death toll for child passengers has reduced by 50 percent since 1980.

The Road Safety Innovation and Achievement Awards judging panel cited several features of the scheme which qualified it for the Award:

• The number of rental car seat locations in New Zealand is the largest per capita in the world.
• The Plunket Car Seat Rental Scheme now serves as a blueprint for other schemes worldwide.
• The car seat rental schemes are strongly grounded in the communities they serve. The aim is universal usage, and Plunket works with many agencies to ensure this goal is achieved.
• All Plunket Car Seat Rental Scheme staff get specialised training in the correct installation of child restraints under the ACC/Land Transport ‘Safe2Go’ programme.

Awards judge Michael Gross said the Car Seat Rental Scheme was a success story with a clear purpose in mind.

“Plunket has overcome obstacles of education, funding and resource to provide a world leading system for New Zealand families. This is a great example of recognising a road safety issue, setting about to do something about it and carrying it through year after year to improve the safety of hundreds of thousands of New Zealander children.

“Plunket is a worthy winner of the Award. Over the last 26 years Plunket has helped transform the use of a child car seat from a rare event to an everyday part of Kiwi family life,” said Mr Gross.

For more information
Andy Knackstedt
Media Manager
Land Transport New Zealand
Ph: 04 931 8829 or 0212 763 222

Background information on the awards

The Road Safety Innovation and Achievement Awards programme is funded by the Road Safety Trust and administered by Land Transport New Zealand. The awards organising committee includes representatives from the New Zealand Automobile Association, the AA Driver Education Foundation, New Zealand Police, ACC and Land Transport New Zealand.

The aim of the awards is to recognise excellence and encourage innovation in road safety.

There are six categories, plus the Premier award:

• Road Safety Education Award
• Road Safety Community Award
• Road Safety in Organisations Award
• Road Safety Vehicle-based Award
• Road Safety Road Engineering Award
• Road Safety General Award

All entries in the were evaluated by a three member expert judging panel comprised of Michael Gross, Dr Carolyn Cogan, Director of the Safe Communities Foundation of New Zealand, and Suzanne Sinclair, chair of the Road Safety Trust.