Haumarutanga rori - taiohi

Road safety - young people

The Travel Safe team work alongside schools and communities to increase active travel and keep students safe on their way to and from school.

Young Driver Workshop

Free young driver workshops are aimed at road users aged between 16 and 24, who hold a current learner or restricted driver licence. Participants will leave with improved knowledge, confidence, and skills.

Each workshop includes:

A 60-minute one-on-one driving lesson with a certified instructor
Waka Kotahi NZTA roadworthy vehicle check (what to check to ensure your vehicle is safe and roadworthy)
Driver behaviour awareness (speed, impairment, restraints, distraction, and fatigue
Awareness session on sharing the road with heavy vehicles

Parents/caregivers are strongly encouraged to attend but it’s not compulsory. The four-hour workshops are held during school term holidays, usually between 9am and 1pm.

Drive has everything you need to prepare for your learner, restricted and full licence tests.

Visit the Drive website

Kids Can Ride

Kids Can Ride is Travel Safe’s year 5-6 cycle skills programme. It is based on the BikeReady curriculum, an established initiative by Waka Kotahi.

Experienced cycle skills instructors visit schools to help students learn to navigate local streets and intersections with structured learning outcomes.

Kids Can Ride consists of two grades: Grade 1 (year 5) – Preparing for on-road riding, and Grade 2 (year 6) – Introduction to on-road riding. Students will complete grade 1 learning before being able to undertake grade 2.

Grade 1 is held at school, usually in a field or on a court and is designed to encourage and develop basic bike control skills. The session also covers how to check and fit a helmet, and a basic bike safety check.

Grade 2 takes place on quiet local roads and is designed to give students real cycling experience to build skills and confidence for making short journeys on local roads. Grade 2 covers how to see and be seen, communication, road positioning and cooperating with other road users.

It’s Travel Safe’s goal to see Kids Can Ride delivered in every school in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty.

For more on Kids Can Ride contact travelsafeschools@tauranga.govt.nz.

Young driver workshop

Kids can ride

School Travel Safe Action Plans

School Travel Safe Action Plans are community led and embedded in neighbourhoods across Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty.

Educating with in-school programmes
Encouraging different ways to get to and from school like walking, biking, busing, and scootering
Engineering better routes to school with improved crossings, school speed zones, and shared paths
Enforcing parking regulations around schools.

Parking Behaviour

Drop off and pick up are busy times that pose a safety risk at the school gate. Travel Safe help schools to communicate things like parking time limits, drop off and pick up zones, parking over the kerb and other safety risks at the school gate.

We deliver an in-school parking and safety programme named Peaceful Parker, and partner with council parking officers to do school visits when requested by schools or the community.

Travel Smart and Travel Safe Leaders

For more than 15 years our Travel Smart (Primary) and Travel Safe (Intermediate) leaders have been supporting the action plan by helping to deliver programmes at school and doing important voluntary work like monitoring crossings.

Student leaders know what’s happening in and around their schools and address any safety issues they see.

Intermediate Schools' Bike Safety

The Intermediate Bike Safety programme is a natural progression from Kids Can Ride and focuses on ‘real time, real environment’ on-road cycling.

It involves a road rules refresher, bike and helmet safety checks, school cycle safety procedures, and how to navigate intersections. The programme includes a practical skills assessment and sees students riding in their local area with an instructor.

Design Your Own Helmet Competition

Five Tauranga school students received a huge surprise in May when they were presented with their winning helmets as part of Travel Safe’s ‘Design Your Own Helmet’ competition, while filming a video about the importance of wearing one. Read the full media release.

The competition will reopen again in October this year.

Feet First

The Feet First programme encourages active travel to and from school to support reduced congestion around schools and associated health, social, environmental, and economic benefits.

The programme is based on healthy fun competition through the collection travel data, celebrating healthy ways to travel, and student-led initiatives for promotion. The programme is flexible and can easily be adapted to meet the needs of the school community.

Kids on Feet

A Kids on Feet walking school bus is a fun, safe and active way for children to travel to and from school with adult supervision. It involves students walking together with at least at least one adult ‘driver’ and picking up children at designated stops on the way to and from school.

Walking school buses are flexible to meet the needs of schools and supported by Travel Safe with guidance and resources for students and parent/caregiver volunteers.

For help with Kids on Feet contact travelsafeschools@tauranga.govt.nz

Car Restraints

Looking for Support around car seat restraints? Contact one of our local car seat technicians at travelsafeschools@tauranga.govt.nz. We offer free car seat installations, checks, and will help answer any questions or concerns regarding your car restraint.

Ruben the Road Safety Bear

Ruben the Road Safety Bear visits pre-school and younger children with his minder to talk about keeping safe around roads and traffic.

Ruben has his own song and dance – The Ruben Rock, and his focus lies in four key areas:

safe passenger (child seats, seat belts and booster seats)
safe pedestrian (crossing the road)
playing on the street and sneaky driveways, and
supervised cycling and helmet use.

For more on Ruben the Road safety bear including some fun resources visit his website.

Ruben the Road Safety Bear

Tauranga set to host NZ's premier skateboarding event

Next March, for the first time ever, Tauranga will host the Skateboard Nationals, NZ’s premier skateboarding event where some of the country’s top skateboarders will drop in and carve up at Destination Skatepark.

Mayor Mahé Drysdale says hosting the Skateboard Nationals next year is a fantastic opportunity for the city.

“This is a premier event for New Zealand’s skateboarding community which will bring multiple benefits to the region and help inspire the next generation of local skateboarders. Hosting national and international events like this attracts thousands of people to Tauranga and enables us to showcase everything that our beautiful city and the wider Bay of Plenty have to offer,” Mahe says.

Tauranga Deputy Mayor and Mauao/Mount Maunganui Ward Councillor Jen Scoular says hosting the Skateboarding Nationals is a perfect opportunity to highlight the city’s awesome skate facilities, including the new Destination Skatepark and the revamped vert ramp in Blake Park.

“We’re so excited to host the country’s top skateboarders in the heart of Mount Maunganui. Ever since the Destination Skatepark opened earlier this year, it’s been humming with activity. It’s a world-class facility which is attracting people from all over the country, from seasoned pros to newbie skateboarders. We’re looking forward to seeing more events like this in the future.”

The Skateboard Nationals is one of the country’s most anticipated skateboarding events and will showcase talents across three disciplines, including park, street and vert skateboarding. The event typically features more than 100 competitors across a diverse range of age groups.

“It’s the annual highlight on the skateboarding calendar,” says Sonia Griffin, Board Chair of Skateboarding New Zealand. “The Skateboard Nationals are a fantastic way to unite the skateboarding community, and next year we’re expanding opportunities with the introduction of an Under 13 division, encouraging even more people to get involved and showcase the diversity of talent and passion in the sport.”

Sonia attributes the surge in skateboarding’s popularity to its inclusion in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the increased investment from central and local government in skate facilities that support skateboarding as a positive youth activity.

“Local, regional and national competitions are vital for supporting the growth of skateboarding in New Zealand and provide a platform for emerging skateboarders interested in high performance who want to take their skating to the global stage.

“Having high class facilities like those in Mount Maunganui is crucial in opening the doors to international competition and developing a more active Aotearoa. The new Destination Skatepark is undoubtedly a standout facility - it’s quality and versatility for different styles of skating make it one of the most innovative skateparks in the country.”

From the outset, community and collaboration underpinned the development of Destination Skatepark on both a design and funding front. TECT was a key funder of the skatepark’s development - alongside New Zealand Community Trust, Lottery Community Facilities Fund, Grassroots Trust, The Lion Foundation and Project Tauranga - and now they’re back for more skate action supporting the Skateboard Nationals with Tauranga City Council.

Mark Arundel, Chairperson of TECT, says that funding the Skateboard Nationals is an exciting next step to showcase the skatepark nationally and host a unique sporting event in the Bay of Plenty region.

“Hosting the Skateboard Nationals in Tauranga will boost the local economy through spending on accommodation, dining and activities. It also showcases our top-notch skatepark and the region itself, inspiring young skaters with the potential to pursue pathways to events like the Olympics.

“Destination Skatepark is always bustling with people of all ages and abilities, promoting outdoor activity, fun and social connections. It helps individuals build confidence, self-discipline, and perseverance, while fostering friendships and a strong, supportive skate community in the Bay.”

Previously hosted in Gisborne, the Skateboard Nationals will take place on 28-29 March 2025. The event is anticipated to attract hundreds of skate enthusiasts, supporters, and competitors to the region.