Blog articles / 18 May 2022

Encouraging Road Safety Awareness

Many of you will be familiar with the ‘All eyes on the road’ campaign which is brought to you by Smith&Smith^®. This campaign is designed to educate Kiwi drivers and the industry on vehicle safety technology commonly known as Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS), ADAS capabilities and how these can contribute to road safety. With manufacturers around the globe beginning to provide many ADAS features as a standard, the ‘knock-on’ effect will mean that by 2023 many more new vehicles purchased in New Zealand will have ADAS such as AEB (autonomous emergency braking) and, by the end of the decade, we believe the majority will have a range of these features.

ADAS are a family of safety systems that automate and enhance vehicle safety. Vehicles with this technology may require a recalibration following a windscreen replacement to reset the cameras which look through the windscreen. Many modern vehicles now have ADAS safety features such as autonomous emergency braking and adaptive cruise control, enabled by technology. ADAS use sensors and cameras to detect obstacles or driver errors and respond accordingly. They are designed to avoid accidents by alerting the driver to problems, implementing safeguards, and sometimes taking control of the vehicle if necessary. So when your car automatically brakes for you, or beeps when you cross the white line without indicating, it is trying to keep you and your passengers safe.

The increasing prevalence of ADAS should improve New Zealand’s vehicle and road safety, but these benefits can only be fully realised if drivers understand the importance of utilising them, their full capability and if the standard to which the technology is recalibrated is assured.

And that’s where you come in, our valued customers. We are so grateful that you are on this journey with us to share our vision about ADAS and what we need to do to harness its potential – to help keep Kiwis safer on our roads.

Another way we have been encouraging ‘Road Safety Awareness’ and reinforcing this key messaging with younger people in our communities, was through our company-wide involvement in Road Safety Week which took place nationwide 9-15 May. Coordinated annually by the charity Brake, the campaign involves thousands of people around the country taking action for safer roads. This includes companies like ours, local councils, emergency services, schools, childcare centres and community groups.

Road Safety Week resonates with Belron’s* ‘Mission’ as it aims to inspire communities to take action on road safety and promote life-saving messages during the week and beyond. At Belron New Zealand we focus on safety. This is what we do to help support you and your customers. Every day we aim to create the environment and conditions to help keep Kiwis physically safe on the road, at home and at work.

The theme in 2022 was ‘Be A Road Safety Hero’, celebrating the heroic work of road safety professionals, and explaining how we can all play a part in making journeys safer for everyone. During the week different challenges e.g. quizzes, art competitions and messages were posted on social channels, encouraging everyone, their teams and families to become involved and test their road safety knowledge. It was a fun week!

*NB: Belron New Zealand trades as Smith&Smith®, Laser and Exceed through its group of companies.