AA North Otago District Council

Achievements

• AA North Otago District reached 100 Years in July 2023
• We were Runner Up for "AA District of the Year" presented at the AA National Conference in March 2024

Community Involvement

• High vis & bike lights projects for primary schools - In 2023, in partnership with the NZ Police, the AA presented local schools with Hi Vis vests for school pedestrian crossing patrols. This year (2024) we are distributing cycle lights in conjunction with Otago, Canterbury and Southern Lakes AA Districts. We see this as a great safety initiative for our biking community.
• Encouraging diverse representation in transport advocacy - We aim to increase youth involvement on our AA Council and have AA District Councillors with a wide variety of mobility and safety backgrounds. Currently our AA District Councillors have experience in road policing and logistics, SADD student involvement, motorcycling, FENZ, driver licensing, vehicle sales and servicing, cycling, as well as transport planning and research.

SADD contribution

• AA provides national funding to SADD and at a local level we have ongoing SADD student representation on our AA District council
• We have had SADD members act as ‘student advocates” on the AA North Otago Council for at least 4 years now all from our local secondary schools. This has been a great achievement and ongoing success with students still continuing on and hopes for the future. They attend meetings sharing ideas and contributing to the conversations giving a ‘youth perspective’ that is not always seen on many other councils. Our councillors have also attended SADD national conferences.

Roading concerns

• Moeraki - The accident rate in the Moeraki area has caused great concern over the years. Our AA District has advocated for change and even after the latest improvements we will continue to monitor the situation.
• North Oamaru - We were open to the ideas of the Waitaki District Council taking measures to improve traffic flow through north Oamaru. This has now been cancelled due to funding being withdrawn, but we still see the need to improve traffic flows at peak times, both on SH1 and on the sideroads.
• Safety issues on SH1, Oamaru - With the expansion of the industrial area at the north end of Oamaru we are involved in looking at improved safety provisions on the State Highway one between Oamaru and Pukeuri.

Collaborating with other districts

• Crash risks on SH8 - We are part of a joint effort with AA South Canterbury District and AA Southern Lakes District to look what can be done to reduce the accident rate on State Highway 8 (Timaru to Queenstown)
• SH1 safety issues - We also collaborate with the AA Otago District about SH1 issues that crossover within our districts.

District Councillors

The District Councillors are:

• Martin McFelin (Chairman, National Councillor)
• Graeme Newton (Vice Chairman)
• Leigh Fellows
• Mark Young
• Andrew Steel
• Kelvin Hay
• Robyn Hyde
• Sue Gardner
• Kevin Murdoch
• Nadine Jellyman
• Kristiana Whiston (Youth Councillor)
• Maddie Byrne (Youth Councillor)

AA North Otago District representatives receiving the Runner Up award for AA District of the Year at the 2024 AA Conference. From left: District Councillors Kelvin Hay and Andrew Steel, District Manager Karen Weir, Chair/National Councillor Marty McFelin, NZAA President Mark Winger.

In July 2023, the AA North Otago District celebrated 100 years of representing AA Members in the region.

Contacts for AA Members

District Manager: Karen Weir, Oamaru AA Centre