This Road Safety Week, Audi New Zealand is taking a leading role in youth driver safety, announcing today the launch of the Audi driving academy – a market-first initiative conceived to help address the number of incidents of young people crashing on our roads.
The Audi driving academy has been designed for New Zealand’s most vulnerable road users, 18-25 year olds, and seeks to teach young adults the driving techniques and safety manoeuvres that will keep them safer on our roads and help them prevent and minimise tricky or dangerous situations.
Dean Sheed, General Manager of Audi New Zealand, says, “As an industry, it’s high time we address the issue of youth driver safety head-on. Audi is committed to promoting safer driving among New Zealand’s young drivers; we believe we have a responsibility to protect our youth by arming them with essential driving skills to face the many hazards on our roads.”
Young race car driver Andrew Waite will join professional Audi driving instructors at the inaugural event on Monday 9 June at Hampton Downs, where young drivers from throughout New Zealand will master everyday driving challenges such as braking, skid pan driving, changing lanes and distracted driving. Along with hosting customers, Audi is hosting a number of students from around the country – young drivers who might not otherwise get such an opportunity – and equipping them to share what they learn at their schools and universities.
“We know loss of control is a leading cause of fatal crashes among 15-24 year olds. We also know that men in this age group are nine times more likely to crash than men 25-plus and young women are seven times more likely than women 25-plus-. It’s statistics like these that have driven us to establish the academy; we want to proactively address this issue,” says Sheed.
At just 24 years of age, Andrew Waite has an impressive racing CV, and he knows first-hand the importance of preparing for dangerous situations after a tyre failure caused his car hit a wall at the V8 Supercars in Pukekohe last month. Andrew says, “You never know what’s around the corner, whether on the race track or the road, and developing the right driving techniques can be the difference between life and death. I’m happy to be able to share my experience and be part of this great new initiative by Audi.”
Sheed adds: “The Audi Driving Academy is a unique addition to our Audi driving experience offering, which includes the Audi ice experience in Queenstown and the Audi track experience. Those experiences have proven hugely popular, and on listening to our customers, we know there’s a demand for the driving academy.”
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