Can you believe it is now August? The country has been experiencing some wintry weather, so it's a good time to remind ourselves of how to stay safe at home and on the roads.

If you are planning a trip to the ski fields, the SnowSmart website has some good advice for keeping yourself fit.

Keep safe and warm.

Plunket Seeking Volunteers
Many of Plunket's services are run and funded by teams of volunteers, currently they are looking for more people to become involved in their local community. Go to their website.

Jason Hope has been appointed to the Northern Team Manager Position. Jason will primarily have responsibility for Henderson, North Shore and Far North.

Cathy Blincoe has been appointed to the new position of Injury Prevention Consultant in Greymouth, covering the South Island's West Coast. She has previously worked for the Ministry of Fisheries and Cathy's qualifications include a BA (English) and post-graduate papers in fisheries resource management.

Kelly Maung has been appointed Injury Prevention Consultant at Henderson and has been a Case Manager for two years working with the Auckland Branch, mainly with clients with serious injuries. She will be responsible for the Sphere of Influence project and Safety NZ Week.

Jan Spriggs has been appointed as Injury Prevention Consultant in Invercargill

David Peirce has started a six month secondment with the Public Safety Programmes Team as the Programme Manager for Young Driver and Motorcycle Safety. He'll be based at the Henderson Branch and will be reporting to the Road and Sport Team Manager, Simon Gianotti.

Ann Hodgson is leaving Christchurch Injury Prevention and taking up a position as a Business Relationship Manager on 1 September.

Sally Phelps is the new Injury Prevention Consultant in Hawkes Bay starting on 4 August.

Gary Rainey has resigned from Palmerston North Injury Prevention, effective from 25 July.

Brigid Crowley, Injury Prevention Consultant in Wanganui is leaving on 15 August to run a hotel in Wanganui with her husband.

Robyn Steel has joined the Crime Prevention Unit as Southern Regional Relationship Manager. Robyn's previous role was leading the Safer Christchurch Strategy at Christchurch City Council.

Entries are now open for the 2007/2008 Road Safety Trust's Road Safety Innovation and Achievement Awards.

For more information click the link from ACC's Road Safety home page, or go directly to the Road Safety Trust site.

If you're heading to the 17th International Safe Communities Conference in Christchurch in October this year you are warmly invited to also attend a pre-conference child safety meeting entitled "Safe Communities - Safe Children. How well are children served by the Safe Communities Model?"

Challenging presentations from both international and local presenters will lead on to discussion and provide opportunity for meeting participants to generate a recommendation to take to the full conference based on the question "How well are children served by the Safe Communities Model?"

Places are limited so, to find out more about this meeting and register, check out the website.

We look forward to seeing you there!

The New Zealand Drivers Study led by Dr Dorothy Begg at the IPRU, University of Otago has now recruited around 4,000 newly licensed drivers whose progress will be followed as they progress through the graduated licensing system and for 10 years after they gain their full licence. Read more here.

Recently published research includes the distractive effects of cellphone use highlighting the differences in passenger and hands-free cellphone conversations using a simulated driving situation. Read this Land Transport New Zealand report.

This is a monthly Safe Community newsletter published by the Karolinska Institute.
Issue 11
Issue 12