Managing road safety in Hutt City – what we do
We work closely with the community to reduce the number of road accidents in our city. We want to see fewer people killed or injured on our roads and reduce the social cost of damage to people, vehicles and property.
We run a number of road safety projects and activities involving primary and secondary schools and a range of community groups.
What sorts of projects?
Our road safety initiatives include:
- Road safety education and advertising campaigns targeting key safety issues – pedestrians, intersections, speed, drink-driving and motorcyclists
- Regular child restraint checks
- A school travel plan programme
- Supporting school road patrols
- Working with secondary schools to develop a culture of safe road use and encouraging more students to get their drivers licences
- Helping marae, English Language Partners and other groups to run learner licence courses
- Running Bike Wise events in February
- Ongoing engineering investments such as traffic signals, pedestrian crossings, reduced speed limits on high-risk roads, traffic calming to create slow zones in residential streets, improving intersection design and cycle lanes
What are our top road safety issues?
Hutt City’s top five road safety issues are:
- Pedestrian safety
- Young drivers
- Intersections – failure to give way or stop
- Excessive speed
- Drink driving
You can find more statistics in the 2009 road safety briefing notes report.
The Road Safety Action Plan (RSAP) working group
Each year we develop a road safety programme in line with the government’s road safety 2020 strategy.
By doing this, we combine our efforts with the efforts of:
- Road police
- Community police
- Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC)
- New Zealand Transport Authority (NZTA)
- Greater Wellington Regional Council
Some projects also involve neighbouring councils and community groups such as schools, marae and the Plunket Society.
The RSAP working group meets four times a year, and the RSAP document outlines plans and projects for the year, and how agencies will work together.
The Safer Hutt Valley Programme’s crime and crash working group also deals with road safety issues in both Hutt City and Upper Hutt.
Funding for community road safety projects
If your organisation is planning a road safety project and you’d like to apply for funding assistance, please contact our road safety coordinator.
We give priority to projects that aim to address our highest risk areas, such as:
- Driver's licence courses
- Safe driving activities targeting youth
- Promotions to reduce drink driving
- Pedestrian safe crossing behaviour
- Motorcycle safety
School travel plans – travelling safely and sustainably
Our school travel plan gives our school community a set of practical actions to improve road safety, reduce car trips to school and encourage students to use more sustainable modes of transport, such as walking, cycling, buses and trains.
We work in partnership with Greater Wellington Regional Council to help schools implement travel plans.
What sorts of things does a travel plan include?
A school travel plan includes actions such as:
- Travel surveys
- Walking school buses
- Road safety and cycling education
- Traffic calming measures – creating slow zones in residential streets
- Improvements to parking management around the school, including enforcement
- Installing or upgrading pedestrian facilities
- Promotions that encourage walking trips
- School road patrols
- Car pooling
What are the benefits of a school travel plan?
Benefits include:
- Improved road safety in the school neighbourhood, e.g. safer crossings
- Encouraging children to be more physically active by walking or cycling to school
- Fewer cars at the school gate
- Reducing unsafe and illegal parking behaviour outside the school
- Reducing air pollution and saving energy
- Active transport ensures that students are alert and ready to learn
- Engaging the community and enhancing social connectedness
The following schools have travel plans:
Introduce travel plan at your school
If your school would like to bring in its own travel plan, we can help you get started. Get in touch with us.
Walking school buses
A walking school bus provides a fun, safe, active and sustainable way for children to travel to and from school with adult supervision.
We can help you organise walking school buses at your school. Please contact us.
How does a walking school bus work?
Each bus walks along a set route, with at least one adult ‘driver’, picking children up at designated stops and walking them to school.
The bus is for children of all ages, although schools have found that five to eight year olds are the most likely to use it.
By walking regularly on the bus, children can learn the road safety skills they need to be able to walk independently.
The following schools have walking school buses:
- Wilford
- Hutt Central
- Eastern Hutt
- Boulcott
- Belmont
- St Michael’s
- Korokoro
How we can help you
If you would like to discuss your road safety concerns with us, please get in touch with us.