South Canterbury Road Safety Coordinator, Michelle Bunt, is calling on South Canterbury motorists to put themselves in others’ shoes during Road Safety Week.

She has displayed 46 pairs of shoes on the grass outside the Timaru District Council headquarters to highlight the number of people killed on South Canterbury roads since the beginning of 2020. The display will be available to be seen all this week.

"The display is designed to visually quantify and highlight the road safety trauma we experience across South Canterbury, in an impactful but respectful way” she said.

"The goal is to encourage people to drive safely and take extra precaution, especially now we’re heading into winter, and to consider how our actions as drivers can impact on other road users."

Road Safety Week is an annual international celebration which, this year, runs from 12-18 May. The New Zealand theme for this year is "be a road safety hero".

The display runs alongside other activities in the community including road safety breakfasts at Farmlands Temuka and Waimate (on Thursday 15 May and Friday 16 May respectively) highlighting agricultural vehicle safety, kindly sponsored by FMG.

The Timaru District Library has a Road Safety Week display and free colouring in sheets and activities for kids. The Road Safety team and representatives from New Zealand Transport Agency will also be at the Careers Expo at the Southern Trust Event Centre on Wednesday 14 May promoting driver licensing resources.

Ms. Bunt invites members of the community to come check out the displays and events and get involved.