Mayor Nigel Bowen sits down with Jess Cradock, a Geraldine High School student and volunteer firefighter and they talk all about Students Against Dangerous Driving (SADD) and what all ages groups can do behind the wheel to be safe.

(Please note: for reasons of efficiency this transcript was generated by AI and lightly edited by human, so there will likely be some errors)

Transcript

00:00:00 Nigel Bowen

My name is Nigel Bowen, mayor of Tamaru and looking forward to having a chat today with Jess on Sad and road safety. So really excited to be connecting with you.

00:00:11 Jess Cradock

I'm Jess Cradock. I'm a year 13 student at Geraldine High School. This is my first year being a member of SADD, but I'm a volunteer firefighter and have been since year 11, so it's really pushed me to help out in this.

00:00:24 Nigel Bowen

Area since year 11, that's pretty cool. So what made you want to become?

00:00:31 Nigel Bowen

Volunteer Fire Brigade Volunteer Fire.

00:00:34 Nigel Bowen

Person is.

00:00:35 Jess Cradock

It what? Yeah, so.

00:00:36 Nigel Bowen

Yeah, well, you're still. It's still it's it's pretty.

00:00:38 Jess Cradock

Cool. I don't know. My dad has been a volunteer firefighter since I was.

00:00:44 Jess Cradock

Maybe like 7 or 8 so it's always been something that's been in my life and that I've been not involved with, but I've, like, seen what it's like and something I've been interested in. So there was that aspect of my dad. But I also at the time wasn't really sure what I wanted to do once I left school. So I was doing it as, like a career opportunity because I thought even if I didn't.

00:01:06 Jess Cradock

Enjoy firefighting as a like a career, I would like gain skills from it. That would help me in.

00:01:11 Nigel Bowen

Future. Yeah. Awesome. And so you've been a member of said for a while as well. What came first, the volunteer firefighter or or said?

00:01:20 Jess Cradock

Firefighting came first. I like I said, I joined in year 11, just after I turned 16.

00:01:26 Jess Cradock

I was really getting my dad to ask the chief so I could like, jump in straight away. I was really excited and sad. Kind of has.

00:01:38 Jess Cradock

Only just being brought back to our school this year after COVID not kind of died in a way, cause the people who were running it left and it just never got brought back because there was no one really interested in it. And my deputy principal came up to me at the end of last year, asked if I would be interested in, like, running the.

00:01:58 Jess Cradock

Say a group for the school, so it could.

00:02:00 Jess Cradock

Like, come back and cause it's something that's important and that the school needs to share the message.

00:02:05 Nigel Bowen

Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Takes young leaders to keep those things going. So well done. So your involvement with said this year and also you went to conference in Wellington. Tell us about that.

00:02:16 Jess Cradock

So I've had the privilege to attend some sad workshops this year, which has been really helpful.

00:02:21 Jess Cradock

Especially because it's something that hasn't really been droning for.

00:02:24 Jess Cradock

I was able to build up my like a little stockpile of activities we could do at school and like some knowledge that I could share. I also had the sad Hoo, which was a few months ago, which was really cool. Got to see what it's like from other people's perspectives and not just fans, but like St. John's and Hilton Hood and at the same conference I went.

00:02:45 Jess Cradock

Up to Wellington, which was really cool, so I got to meet some people from other schools and got to see what those schools were doing. Which was awesome, because then I got to bring some ideas back into Geraldine.

00:02:55 Nigel Bowen

Yeah. Yeah. Nice. And what makes you so passionate about Rd. safety? There's lots of people at school that haven't put their hand out to do these things. So what makes what makes it different for you and why you so passionate?

00:03:08 Jess Cradock

I think I'm passionate about it because I'm a volunteer firefighter and because I've been to.

00:03:14 Jess Cradock

Lots of like car crashes and stuff like that where I've seen some really unfortunate things and I think because I've seen this I can see how important it is that you drive safe and follow the road Rd. rules because they really can have a huge impact on your life or others.

00:03:30 Nigel Bowen

Yeah, awesome. And I take my head off to you, you know, being a first responder, you're, you know, sometimes seeing some real, you know, tragic scenes. How do you how do.

00:03:39 Nigel Bowen

You.

00:03:39 Nigel Bowen

Deal with that.

00:03:41 Jess Cradock

I think just because I've got a really good support system with my friends, family and just the Geraldine Brigade in general, it's like a little family and.

00:03:49 Jess Cradock

Just like I don't know, I just feel comfortable there and I know that if I didn't feel comfortable with anything or if I needed help that it.

00:03:56 Nigel Bowen

Would be offered to me. People are there for you. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, thank you for your involvement. It's pretty, pretty cool to have some, you know, young leaders, really passionate, passionate about this space.

00:04:05 Jess Cradock

So yeah, thank you. I just have a few questions for you now. Why is Rd.

00:04:09 Jess Cradock

Safety important to you.

00:04:10 Jess Cradock

As the mayor.

00:04:12 Nigel Bowen

Yeah. For lots of reasons, you know, through my youth, I've been involved in, you know, car crashes. I remember as a child, we got hit by a drunk driver and and it sort of brings home, you know, the realities of of, you know.

00:04:24 Nigel Bowen

Getting home, you know, safely and and I think one of the messages I send to the community every year, every year at Christmas is, you know, come home safely. You know, that's one of the times when there's, you know, dramatic increase in Rd. toll because there's so many people, you know, on the road. And we just want our community to come back safely, unfortunately and.

00:04:45 Nigel Bowen

You know my role as a mayor. I get rung. You know, when there's a a major car accident. I know the the one that you're involved.

00:04:51 Nigel Bowen

Without Jordine recently and you know you're asked to respond. And I've just got so much respect. One for the first responders. But you know, it's just a, a tragic, a tragedy for small communities. And we seem to, you know, certainly in this area have a fair share, whether it's that one, whether it's the young lads a few years ago, you know, these are all full and they.

00:05:11 Nigel Bowen

You know didn't need to happen, so we need to, you know, do everything we can as a community, as young people like yourselves, me as a a leader of community, to be able to get to run home safely because, you know, do you, you know, impact family dramatically so. So let's do what we can.

00:05:28 Jess Cradock

No, I agree. That was really good. Why do you think? Ohh no, sorry. Was it was Rd. safety something you were interested in before?

00:05:37 Nigel Bowen

Yeah, always been, yeah, really interested and probably, you know, similar message about getting people home safely. I think, you know, for a little bit older than you just so.

00:05:48 Nigel Bowen

You know, I've seen the roads and the traffic increased.

00:05:51 Nigel Bowen

Over the years, you know there's lots of things happening around this area. We've, you know, probably in the last few years we've seen or last, you know, couple of decades we've seen the roads change and the fact that you've got, you know, really heavy vehicles and you know, roads are quite different. So we have to be aware we have to be promoting that message around being safe, safe.

00:06:11 Nigel Bowen

You know, no drinking, driving all the basics. You know, one of the big things at the moment, you know, people on cell phones, we've we've all gotta do our part. So you know, it's something I've always been. Yeah. Really passionate about. Just because, you know, I I wanna get my family home so.

00:06:26 Jess Cradock

Nice. Why do you think programmes like SAD are important?

00:06:31 Nigel Bowen

Yeah, unfortunately, you know, in a perfect world, we wouldn't need said and you know, all the adults in our lives would just step up and and do the right thing. But I think what's really important is that young people get the opportunity to to, to show leadership.

00:06:46 Nigel Bowen

And, you know, often is the case.

00:06:49 Nigel Bowen

You know, some people you're not gonna get the message through. At least it comes from a certain direction. So I think it's really important that young people step up and we're very lucky. The likes of yourselves and some of the others around the schools in South Canterbury are doing a phenomenal job. And I've been, you know, able to witness that myself. I'm. I'm really proud of the young people and what you guys are doing. But, you know, we need to all do our part.

00:07:09 Nigel Bowen

And I just think it's yeah, really, really cool. And I've got a lot of respect for for all of you. And what's nice, my involvement with you guys is that.

00:07:18 Nigel Bowen

You're, you know, deeply passionate about, you know, everyone in that room are really cares and whether they've been touched by an accident or whatever. The reason is that they're getting in that room to, you know, help support this cause, you know, they're they're doing it genuinely. It's, you know, not just the day of school, it's actually about making a difference. It's pretty cool.

00:07:36 Jess Cradock

Yeah, I totally agree. It's something that's really important as it's like another way to get the message through to students who don't want to hear it.

00:07:43 Jess Cradock

From adults, yeah.

00:07:45 Jess Cradock

Regardless of generations, can the people of what can the people of Tamara do to be safe on the road?

00:07:51 Nigel Bowen

Yeah, look, I think it's just talking about these things. I mean you, you know, the stories that you, you know, see through your role as a Volunteer Fire fighter, whether it's through the lessons that you learn through said, whether it's the experiences I have, I think it's the key one that we're talking about it. We're not talking about these things as a community then we're not going to move forward and.

00:08:12 Nigel Bowen

And and improve so you know there's some tragedies that happen and they're always going to treat always going to happen. But what lessons can we take from them? And so the more that we are able to talk about the really.

00:08:23 Nigel Bowen

Hard.

00:08:24 Nigel Bowen

Stuff. I think that's great for all of us and and hopefully you know we'll make a difference.

00:08:29 Nigel Bowen

You know one one person at a time.

00:08:33 Jess Cradock

It's really good. Like, I think it's definitely something that is. It's not just young people that are the issue, it's all ages. So it's important that everyone understands that it's something that they all need to do their part and to make the roads safer.

00:08:47 Nigel Bowen

No, that's. And you know, I've got young kids your age, you know, going through driver.

00:08:51 Nigel Bowen

Drivers licence and and what have you at the moment and you know one of the things we talk about, you know, around the Council table and and of my age is, you know, would we be able to pass that test now if we did it tomorrow? So I think we've all gotta be conscious.

00:09:06 Nigel Bowen

You know of of Rd. safety and don't take don't take those things for granted. You know, car cars are a lot more powerful. They're a lot faster. There's a lot more potential for tragedy. So everything we can do look and and and you know, the message that I'd like to.

00:09:21 Nigel Bowen

Get across is.

00:09:22 Nigel Bowen

You know, often you see people whipping past, you're on the state highway.

00:09:26 Nigel Bowen

But they don't necessarily get any faster to the destination, so you know what's what's the, you know, the cost of that. We risk that you take could be someones life and you know it'd be a hard one to live with if you with the cause of an accident that you know, potentially someone else's family.

00:09:42 Nigel Bowen

And get home, be a be a be a hard one to be a. Yeah. So look, thank you. This has been great. Good to have a chat and and thanks for the work that you're doing and and yeah. Great to see that you're staying within the fire you know fighting fraternity moving forward with your next step. So it's great to see you great to see you.

00:10:03 Nigel Bowen

You know, some. Someone so patient, so thank you for all the work.

00:10:06 Jess Cradock

Cool. Thank you for having me

00:10:07 Nigel Bowen

No worries. Pleasure.

00:10:08 Jess Cradock

Thanks.