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

Help us reshape Hopukiore - Mount Drury play area

One of Mount Maunganui’s most popular play spaces is ready for a refresh, and we need your help to make it even more awesome.

One of Mount Maunganui’s most popular play spaces is ready for a refresh, and we need your help to make it even more awesome.

“As the many users of the iconic Hopukiore - Mount Drury playground will know, it’s due for an upgrade, and we want locals and users to help us shape that upgrade. We’re seeking views from our community, suggesting they dream big, share ideas of other spaces they enjoy, and let us know what would make this great space even better,” says Jen Scoular, Deputy Mayor of Tauranga and Mauao/Mount Maunganui Ward Councillor.

“We want to hear what the community and visitors love about the current play area, what they wish it had, and any questions they’ve been wondering about the Hopukiore area or upgrade – and we’re especially keen to hear ideas from tamariki.”

Kids and adults alike can share their ideas online at letstalk.tauranga.govt.nz/hopukioredreams, and for the creative minds, big or small, ‘Dream it, Draw it’ feedback forms can be picked up at Te Ao Mārama - Mount Maunganui Library or printed from the webpage.

Community feedback opened this week and will run until 5pm, Monday, 17 February 2025.

Two public feedback sessions will be held at Hopukiore playground in February 2025, providing an opportunity for the community to share their ideas in person. Full details are available on the webpage.

Hopukiore is known for its cultural significance, open spaces, superb lookout, and of course, its playground, which was originally constructed in 2008. With more than 100 playgrounds across the city, Hopukiore's playground stands out as a destination for a day of play, ideally located near the beach and local cafes.

“Community input is fundamental to shaping a play space that reflects our community’s values, is fun and exciting, honours our cultural identity, and is inclusive and enjoyable for everyone. Community feedback will help guide what the play area looks like and what playground equipment will be included.

“As part of the Hopukiore upgrade, we’re also talking to key stakeholders such as the Accessible City Interest Group, local schools and kura, and our iwi and hapū partners, to get their input.”

After feedback closes, a concept design for the Hopukiore – Mount Drury play area will be developed, shaped by the community’s ideas.

This design will be shared with the community for further input in early to mid-2025. Construction is anticipated to get underway in early 2026.

For more information and to get involved visit letstalk.tauranga.govt.nz/hopukioredreams