There are many ways to travel around New Zealand, whether it is getting to and from school, for work, for shopping or fun and leisure. People can choose to walk, cycle, use a motorcycle or car, or use public transport such as buses and trains.
Wherever you are going it is likely that you will travel on one of New Zealand’s roads. Good roads are an important part of our community. Our communities work much better when it is easy for people to travel and when goods and services can be easily exchanged. Roads are also a community space: we ‘meet’ and have lots of interactions on the road as we navigate safely from one place to another.
History of roads
Throughout the world many modern roads started out as just tracks that people used to get from place to place. The more popular tracks were later used by people with their horses and other such animals and so became larger.
In New Zealand many of our current roads were once Māori ara or pathways.
What is a road?
Roads give everyone a ‘right of way’ or rite of passage. Roads are a shared place where everyone needs to know the rules and respect other road users. Everyone has a responsibility to travel safely and to help others to also travel safely.
Making journeys safer 
When we use a road or shared path we become part of that transport system. Our actions affect others. We need to know how to travel safely and follow the New Zealand road code. We also need to stay aware and realise that people can make mistakes.
A safe system
When we travel our safety is affected by:
- Our own actions
- Our ability to follow road rules and speed limits
- The design of the road
- The weather and the condition of the road
- The vehicle we choose to travel in
- Other road users and how we react to them
In New Zealand there are high numbers of serious injuries and deaths on our roads. Much work has been done to try to improve the safety of our roads for all road users and pedestrians.
To reduce the number of injuries and deaths roads need to be used responsibly and:
- our roads must be well designed
- vehicles need to be safe and well maintained
- drivers need to be well informed with clear signs and variable messages
On this field trip you will look at how you can contribute to a safe journey system and explore the technology behind safer roads and vehicles.
Ready for a quiz? Try the interactive Safer Journeys activity .
