Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Community groups demand road safety grants

Updated at 9:37 am on 14 December 2009

Community groups are demanding to know why they cannot get grants from the Crown-owned Road Safety Trust, despite it having more than $10 million in savings.

The independent trust is funded by a portion of profits from the sale of personalised plates and one of its aims is to hand out money for community safety initiatives.

The trust has been spending money on its own national campaign to reduce driver distraction and has rejected 14 applications from community groups for the year to June because they did not meet its criteria.

Among those rejected were the organisations Rural Women and Safekids.

Rural Women asked for money to create signs to remind drivers of the speed limit when passing school buses.

One of its national councillors, Jacky Stafford, believes the initiative should have been supported.

"This trust says that they will do specific road safety projects - this is a specific project ... Surely keeping our kids safe on roads has to be a top priority."

Road Safety Trust chair Yvonne Sharp says it gives out grants only for innovative projects but is now signalling that funding criteria will be reviewed.

"What we fund is innovation and, very unfortunately, none of the applications we got actually complied with that funding criteria.

"I think that circumstances always change and I think that I'll be recommending to the trust that we look very closely at the criteria."

Transport Minister Steven Joyce told Morning Report he will talk to the trust about why it is not paying out money to community groups and whether it is doing another agency's job.

Listen to Morning Report interview with Steven Joyce

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