New Zealand professional racing car driver Scott McLaughlin has been announced as Auckland Transport (AT)’s Official Road Safety Ambassador in 2019.
McLaughlin is passionate about working with AT and assisting in road safety programmes. He won the 2018 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship at age 25, the youngest person to win.
“When I saw that 64 people died and 749 were seriously injured on our roads in 2017, I wanted to be involved and use my reach to lower that risk. We don’t want those numbers to keep rising,” says McLaughlin.
“I drive for a living, but I know when you’re on the road, where there are people walking, cycling and others driving, that you need to be safe. There is just too much at risk.”
McLaughlin will be supporting AT’s young driver education programmes later this year. AT’s focus is to bring down the high rate of death and injuries on our roads to zero.
Partnering with McLaughlin helps AT to connect with Aucklanders about this issue, says AT chief executive Shane Ellison.
“Scott is an internationally respected driver with huge success on the track, and he will make a great ambassador for road safety in Auckland,” says Ellison. “Improving road safety is our top priority and we look forward to working with Scott this year.”
AT is delivering a $700 million safety infrastructure acceleration programme, estimated to reduce deaths and injuries by up to 60% by 2028.
The programme will deliver a range of safety engineering projects, including speed management at high-risk routes and locations across the region.
