The Right Track program is no mean feat, says founder John Finch.
Since their launch in Counties-Manukau 15 years ago, thousands of traffic offenders in the Auckland, Waikato, Canterbury, Otago and Southland regions have faced the potentially devastating consequences of their actions, and have had the opportunity to learn how to make better decisions. to take behind the wheel.
The program usually involves about 15 participants, each with a support person, who attend nine sessions over six weeks.
“It’s confrontational, it’s brutally honest from the first moment to the graduation speeches,” Finch said.
They meet parents who have lost a child in a fatal accident and hear police officers and firefighters talk about the trauma of witnessing an accident and how it affects their daily lives.
The participants are a mix of juveniles, adults and repeat offenders who have been referred to the program by a judge or community magistrate as part of their conviction.
They are presented with “raw, honest, confrontational information that people will run away from,” he said.
“If people knew this, we wouldn’t pay a toll.”
Since 2010, police evaluations of the program’s effectiveness have shown a dramatic reduction in participant recidivism in the two years after completion.
“We’ve never been below 75% of non-recidivism rates.”
In Dunedin and Invercargill, where it operated for three and four years respectively, the success rate was even higher, he said.
Work was now underway to establish The Right Track in Queenstown, with a pilot program starting in November.
Mr Finch said he’d been getting inquiries from residents of Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago for years, and knew judges wanted to see it work in the region.
That was clear to the Otago Daily Times in the Alexandra District Court in May, when community magistrate Simon Heale broke the formality of the trial and told the attorneys, justice and corrections in attendance how much he wanted The Right Track to fill a void for the driving offenders convicted in Alexandra and the courts of Queenstown.
Mr Finch said The Right Track gave judges and community magistrates an alternative option to sentencing, especially for repeat offenders for whom prison was the next step.
“You can lock them up with a bunch of criminals… or work with them to change their behavior and the behavior of their peers, their whanau and other people they come in contact with.”
Judges participated in The Right Track programs across the country, he said.
“They see it as an important part of their toolkit to empower people to make change, especially the young.”
While attending the program could keep an offender out of jail, they would still lose their license and be subject to other punitive elements of their sentence, he said.
An important aspect of the program was the need for each participant to bring a supporter, such as a parent or partner, to each session.
That allowed them to compare notes about what they had heard, sparked important conversations outside the sessions, and often helped mend relationships strained by the transgression.
“Because you have someone who is genuinely interested in what you’re learning, it’s easier for you to keep learning and practicing.
“That ensures the longevity of the change.”
It often led the counselor to change his own negative behavior.
“We are running the program for the perpetrator, but their entire immediate environment has changed.”
The Queenstown Lakes District Council is helping to fund and set up the pilot program in the resort, in conjunction with the governing entity behind it, the Eduk8 Charitable Trust.
Sarah Thomson, the city’s road safety officer, said The Right Track had produced great results everywhere.
“It changes lives. We want to see how it goes and then see if we can get some funding to hopefully keep delivering it,” she said.
In addition to finding a location and securing more money, emergency services and volunteers were recruited to help run it, Ms Thomson said.
Otago Lakes Central Area, Acting Road Police Officer, Sergeant Bruce Martin, said The Right Track took a proactive approach to offenders heading to jail without any intervention of any kind.
“It makes them confront their demons and realize that their behavior is not only self-destructive, but affects everyone, including their own families.”
Sergeant Martin said the details of the pilot program are still being worked on, but he expected local officers to be involved in every session.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand group manager Rodger Smith said it is working closely with the council, police and St. John to bring his expertise to the programme.
“The Right Track is a very good initiative… we are happy to be involved in activities that support road safety in New Zealand.”