Christchurch’s Lincoln High School has received the Bridgestone Excellence in Road Safety Education award as National Road Safety Week commences throughout New Zealand.

Lincoln High School’s accolade was announced last night as dignitaries in Auckland witnessed the lighting of the Harbour Bridge, along with other icons around the country, in yellow to promote awareness of road safety this week.

The Bridgestone Supporting Excellence in Road Safety Education accolade is a joint initiative of the safety focussed tyre company and Road Safety Education Limited – providers of the leading RYDA programme, recognising the schools overwhelming commitment to the programme over the past three years.

“We were delighted to choose Lincoln High School as this year’s award recipients as they have shown a real commitment towards road safety in their school and helping their students to start their road user journeys with strategies to help them mitigate their risk,” said Maria Lovelock, RSE NZ Manager.

Since first attending the programme in 2017 following a road tragedy within the school, Lincoln High School has seen more than 600 students take part in RYDA, working closely with programme coordinators to make it accessible to all students. 

The RYDA programme is now an integral part of the calendar for the school and road safety is now part of the Lincoln High School’s culture, with participants displaying excellent recall of knowledge 12 months on from taking part.

Associate Principal of Lincoln High School, Stephen Rout, says the RYDA programme is a holistic approach to road safety education and plays a key role in creating change on the roads.

“We are very committed to the RYDA programme.  We know within our community in recent years we have had young people who have died of crashes and we would do anything we can to avoid that sort of thing happening again,” Mr Rout said.

 “RYDA covers a number of really key issues for young people and its not just about drivers its about passengers as well,” he added.  

Bridgestone has been a proud supporter of the RYDA programme since 2016, with the partnership reinforcing the company’s priority on mobility, people, and the environment as part of its ‘Our Way to Serve’, CSR initiatives.

According to Bridgestone New Zealand’s Director of Business, John Staples, Lincoln High School’s commitment to RYDA reflects the impact the programme makes to the mindset of young motorists and passengers.

“The RYDA programme is effective in arming young drivers and passengers with a mindset that is centred around road safety. Lincoln High School shares our passion for this topic, highlighting the positive impact it makes on young lives and shaping a culture of safety conscious drivers and passengers,” Mr Staples said.

“We’re delighted to present the Bridgestone Supporting Excellence in Road Safety Education award to Lincoln High School and recognise how they’ve transformed the approach to road safety in recent years using RYDA.

“Bridgestone’s ongoing support of the RYDA programme is underpinned by our priority on supporting mobility, people and the environment, and the success of the programme within Lincoln High School highlights why this is such an important partnership,” he added.

RSE provides nearly 400 RYDA workshop days per year, reaching in excess of 640,000 students from more than 650 schools across Australia and New Zealand since its inception.

As part of the RYDA programme, students take part in a workshop which features a series of sessions led by expert facilitators who address laws, distractions, risk management, peripheral vision, and other motorists’ requirements.

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