Helping people stay safe on the roads is a big part of Whakatāne District Council community safety adviser Richard Hamer’s job and he has a full programme of events planned for this summer aimed at doing just that.
On New Year’s Day, he will be co-ordinating a host of volunteers manning two fatigue stops to help refresh weary drivers – in particular, young people travelling through Ōpōtiki and Whakatāne districts on their way home from Rhythm and Vines music festival in Gisborne.
The New Year’s Day fatigue stop in Matatā has been a staple for many years, aiming to prevent crashes caused by exhausted drivers, but this year the event will also be held in Ōpōtiki.
“Councillor Gavin Dennis who is the Matatā Volunteer Fire Brigade’s chief fire officer, helps run the fatigue stop with Blue Light in Matatā. He has also put us in touch with the Ōpōtiki brigade who are holding the fatigue stop on St John Street, alongside Ōpōtiki Lions.
“It’s going to be right opposite Ōpōtiki College, near the intersection, where the vehicles slow down naturally anyway,” Hamer said.
In running an event that is double the size of previous years, he has had to look at ways to save costs as central Government has heavily cut funding for road safety events this year.
Across the country, New Zealand Transport Authority – Waka Kotahi cut the budget for road safety programmes from $50 million a year to $20 million.
“We’ve had our budget cut by 60%,” Mr Hamer said, of the Eastern Bay Road Safety Programme. “We used to cover 10 areas of road safety. We’ve now really tried to narrow our focus to where we’ve got three main areas, alcohol, speed and seatbelts.
“We felt the fatigue stops were too important not to do. Last year, there was a fatal accident with people who had travelled through Whakatāne and Ōpōtiki from Rhythm and Vines headed to Rotorua.
“It’s just about looking at how you can save money, reduce costs and work with the community.
“For example, in Ōpōtiki, Waiotahi Contractors have come on board doing a free traffic management plan, setting it up and operating it for us. That’s probably going to save us $3000, so we’re really grateful to those guys.
“In Matatā, we won’t be needing a traffic management plan as we will be keeping all the activities off the road, in the reserve areas. The two rumble strips are slowing traffic down to about 20kmh anyway.”
Data from previous years has been used to optimise the highest number of drivers travelling through the district.
“This year we’ve looked at what routes people were taking. We’ve looked at the traffic data for those areas – from traffic counters – and looked at what are the high traffic times in the past, so we know where and what time to get the best bang for the buck.”
Another programme being rolled out in January is the Road Safety Summer Roadshow. Fun activities and spot prizes will be had throughout the Eastern Bay from January 14 to 17 in Matatā, Ōhope, Ōpōtiki, Te Kaha, Ruatāhuna, Tāneatua and Kawerau.
