The Yellow Ribbon National Road Safety Alliance was established in 2016 in New Zealand in concert with Road Safety Education Limited’s NZ partners (BOC, NZ Steel, Bridgestone and AMI) and Brake, the road safety charity. The goal of the Alliance is to draw attention to road safety through symbolism that includes wearing a yellow ribbon and the lighting up of icons, buildings and bridges – particularly around road safety weeks. The Alliance marked the important presence of the yellow ribon on both sides of the Tasman, following the establishment of National Road Safety Week in Australia, of which Road Safety Education Limited is a Principal Partner.
This year in New Zealand, for the first time, the Alliance arranged to have 6 different icons lit up in yellow around NZ, including the Auckland Harbour Bridge which was lit up following the RSE Supporting Excellence Awards evening, which ran as a precursor to the official launch for NZ Road Safety Week. The other icons lit up during the week were; The Whangarei Bridges (which stayed lit for the whole month), Anzac Parade Bridge in Hamilton, the Upper Hutt Fantail, Michael Fowler Centre (Wellington) and the Oamaru Opera house.