Levers were pulled, buttons pushed and a driver’s secret lunch stash uncovered when Wharehine held a safety awareness session at Matakana School on May 16. The Wellsford-based contractors parked two large truck and trailer units in the school carpark and invited the students to familiarise themselves with the size of the equipment. Wharehine general manager Andy Booth says the idea was to raise awareness with the older primary school students about the potential dangers of road traffic.
“We will be taking these large truck and trailer units to a few schools in the district so that the kids can look around them, sit in the driver’s seat and just engage around the blind spots and size of some of the vehicles driving through their communities,” Booth says. “As a large local construction, quarrying, concrete and transport business, we strive to do everything we can to keep our staff, their families and the local community safe.” According to Waka Kotahi, in 2022 there were 51 fatal crashes in NZ, 166 serious injury crashes, and 539 minor injury crashes where trucks were involved.
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