Winter driving and pedestrian and cyclist safety will be high on the agenda for the newly appointed joint Community Road Safety Advisor for the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago District Councils.
Alexandra woman Joanna Robinson has been appointed to the role and will take up her new position on January 16, 2006, based at Alexandra.
“We are delighted that Joanna has accepted this role which carries some key safety and funding responsibilities,” QLDC general manager utilities Mark Kunath said.
In particular the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago District Councils continued to deal with a growing winter accident rate amongst non residents and a disturbing trend in pedestrian and cyclist accidents.
“There is a lot of scope for driving some initiatives to try and counter the problem,” Mr Kunath said.
In particular Ms Robinson would be working with community groups to get community road safety initiatives off the ground.
“There is funding available through Land Transport New Zealand and we should be optimising our access to that funding,” Mr Kunath said.
“Joanna’s appointment will enable us to build on the excellent work done by previous road safety co-ordinators”, CODC roading manager Julie Muir said.
Ms Robinson would also provide a vital link between the many organisations working towards improving road safety across the two districts.
The role of Community Road Safety Advisor receives annual funding from Land Transport New Zealand
Ms Robinson and her family moved to Central Otago in 2000 where she has been involved in growing and producing cut flowers and operating a pinot noir vineyard.
