Organisers of the already award-winning ‘Free Cuppa for the Driver’ scheme have had an exciting few weeks winning a number of awards and being part of the program for the inaugural Australasian Road Safety Conference.
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Phase five of the ‘Free Cuppa for the Driver’ scheme was announced winner of the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (NSW) Local Government Excellence in Road Safety Award at the State Conference in Terrigal.
Phase four of the scheme won this award last year.
At the same time in Sydney, the ‘Free Cuppa for the Driver’ scheme’s free smartphone apps were awarded a silver medal at the 2015 App Design Awards in the ‘health’ category.
The free smartphone apps (for iPhones and Androids) were a new initiative in phase five and were developed with GPS technology which can tell drivers how close the next participating business is and provided essential information such as opening hours and directions.
The Scheme was also named one of 25 finalists for the 3M ACRS Diamond Road Safety Award, but unfortunately was not overall winner.
Finally some team members presented an overview of the Scheme as a poster presentation at the inaugural Australasian Road Safety Conference on the Gold Coast.
Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Councils’ Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer, Melanie Suitor, said while the recognition from peers was very pleasing, acknowledgment for a project where the whole team was passionate and proud to deliver it to their local communities was extremely rewarding as well.
“It has again proven a successful and worthwhile campaign that continues to deliver its objectives of encouraging drivers to stop and take a break, increasing awareness of driver fatigue, highlighting strategies to avoid fatigue driving, and even encouraging visitors to new towns and villages in our area,” she said.
“Building great partnerships between councils and local participating businesses has been gratifying.
“Councils provide the marketing, and local businesses provide the free cuppas.”
Plans are well underway for phase six of the scheme operational from March 1 to May 31, 2016.
With business registrations open there are already 30 businesses signed up to participate in 2016.
Since its inception in 2010, the 'Free Cuppa for the Driver' scheme through its 185 participating businesses has given away 3,221 free cuppas throughout 161 cities, towns and villages in western NSW.
