Improving skills to reduce road toll
Improved attitudes to driving and improved driving skills in apprentices. These were the results of the pilot MITO Safe Driving Campaign in November 2007 according to employers.
With the safety and wellbeing of our apprentices at the forefront, MITO has extended the campaign. Employers of all MITO apprentices aged between 18 and 25 years were invited to send them on an ‘AA Defensive Driving for Experienced Drivers' course. This has lead to almost 400 apprentices attending one of 34 courses throughout New Zealand.
The course included a four-hour classroom session and a one-hour supervised drive with a mentor.
And if the apprentices are looking for an example of someone who practices what they preach - they could do no better than Emma Gilmour. The top female rally driver is one of the course tutors and knows the importance of understanding your car and surroundings, whether on the rally circuit or on the road.
"This campaign is a fantastic initiative. The majority of MITO's apprentices fall into the age group that has the highest representation for road deaths in New Zealand. Although the apprentices are reluctant to believe they have anything further to learn about their driving, by the time the four-hour classroom session is over they have started to realise that driving is very much an important life skill that none of us should take for granted," says Emma.
"As a nation we need to change our attitude to driving. People need to realise that it's not enough to sit our license once. We should never stop learning or thinking of ways to drive better or safer on our roads."
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