AA Northland District Council
The AA’s Northland District Council represents AA Members living North of Te Hana to Cape Reinga.
Working on behalf of AA Members for safety on Northland roads
The AA Northland District Council has an interest in a wide range of transport issues. We work to improve transport and road safety in our region in collaboration with Waka Kotahi-NZ Transport Agency, Regional and District Councils.
Our AA Council is a member of the Northland Road Safety Forum, whose members include the Police, representatives from the local trucking Industry, cycling groups, Northland Health, ACC and other representatives for public mobility.
We are here to represent the views and interests of AA Members, ensuring the voice of local motorists is fairly heard in transport and road safety discussions. If you have any queries regarding our roads or your safety on the road, please contact our District Manager at our Whangarei AA Centre.
Recent activity
Our Northland AA District Council is active across many areas relating to roading, driving and road safety.
AA Northland AGM - Chair's Report
AA Northland Submission on Mid-Term Review of Draft Regional Land Transport Plan (2021-2027)
AA Northland Submission on Draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (March 2024)
Well-maintained roads are safer
Even before the substantial weather damage that has impacted Northland roads in recent times, the importance of good road maintenance for road safety was a key priority for the AA’s Northland District Council.
Unfortunately, roads in Northland are some of the least safe in New Zealand, in large part due to underinvestment in maintenance and improvements. With our population growing rapidly, use of our roads has been increasing at a faster rate than in many other regions around the country meaning that we have many under-maintained roads that are getting more and more vehicles travelling on them.
Maintaining a strong and safe road network is important to the economic vibrancy of Northland. The AA wants to see everyone get home safely at the end of the day.
Road maintenance campaign
In July 2021, we commenced a major media and communications campaign to highlight the parlous state of Northland roads. A fact sheet was developed, shared with stakeholders, and we engaged with a very committed senior local journalist. Our campaign, over three months, resulted in extensive newspaper coverage of road maintenance issues in Northland, getting wide-ranging interest from locals, contractors, MPs, the Roadsafe Forum, newspaper columnists, and other groups active on social media. We achieved a public commitment from Labour MPs and the Prime Minister to present the case for extra road maintenance in Northland to Parliament. This resulted in the commitment of additional funds. But the campaign continues!
Examples of some media stories in our campaign for improving Northland's road maintenance:
NZ Herald/Northern Advocate - 18 April 2023
Northern Advocate - 3 April 2021
Northern Advocate - 13 April 2021
Speed Limit Reviews
Over the past two years, Northland AA District has made comprehensive and evidence-based submissions on 12 speed limit reviews on Northland state highways and local road networks thanks to the tireless voluntary work of AA Councillor Steve Westgate.
Our submissions have involved: researching the proposal and producing a technical report; comparing our findings to the Government's Megamaps and KiwiRAP data; and driving the routes to ensure we have current first-hand experience of the issues. All submissions are personally presented at hearings and receive consistently positive feedback on their quality.
Driver Licence Advocacy
Our AA District Council consistently advocates for better driver licence training and testing opportunities for Northland communities. In recent times, this has involved conversations with Northland Transportation Alliance, Waka Kotahi, NZ Police, VTNZ and community road safety providers. AA Councillors are personally involved in voluntary driver training and mentoring in eight communities and support driver licence training in four schools, as well as via the Howard League and Silver Fern Farms initiatives. It was recently announced that driver licence testing would start in Dargaville and Kaikohe - a significant outcome as a result of persistent advocacy.
Breath Alcohol Testing
An Official Information Request sent to Police in late 2022 resulted in our AA Northland District Council discovering that our region has had a particularly large decline in roadside breath alcohol testing compared with other regions in recent years. In early 2023, TV, radio and print media all covered the story and this media attention on the issue resulted in a public commitment by local police to increase roadside breath testing.
Other Advocacy
Our AA District Council Chairperson, and a number of AA Councillors, have regular formal meetings with Waka Kotahi, Northland Transportation Alliance, and Northland MP’s, which keeps our submissions credible and relevant.
In recent times we have submitted on:
- Waipu state highway roundabouts
- Dome Valley safety improvements
- Puhoi to Warkworth toll road proposal
- Marsden Point to Whangarei rail link
- Portland roundabout and SH 1 safety upgrades
We have also supported Blue Light funding in Dargaville and school patrol awards.
AA Councillor John Williamson continues his 12-year fortnightly newspaper columns (published in The Northern Advocate and NZ Herald) on a wide range of roading, driving and road safety matters.
How we help to inform transport decision-making
The AA regularly uses its Member survey capability to provide insights into public sentiment on transport projects and policy decisions. Increasingly, the AA has done this in collaboration with local and central government agencies (Waka Kotahi-NZ Transport Agency in particular), to help fill information gaps, give AA Members maximum opportunity to have their say, and achieve the best outcomes for Northland. We are a strong advocacy group seeking to ensure that Northland is not forgotten and secures greater funding for its road network.
District Councillors
The District Councillors are:
- Tracey Rissetto (Chair & National Councillor)
- Ashley Johnston (Vice Chair)
- Angelene Waitohi
- Ann Court
- Gordon Lambeth
- John Williamson
- Mark Winger (AA President, leave of absence)
- Steve Westgate
- Vince Cocurullo (leave of absence)
- Jade Keswick
Northland AA District Council has representation from all Northland local authority areas with a well-balanced age and gender representation. Among our Councillors is the current serving Mayor of Whangarei, a District Councillor, and individuals who have earned national recognition for their voluntary work (eg. a QSM and a Civic Award).
Three AA Councillors: Tracey Rissetto, John Williamson and Ashley Johnston are the “go to” people for Northland media comment on roading and road safety matters (contact details can be requested via the AA District Manager below).
Recognition for our work
At the March 2024 AA Annual Conference, AA Northland District Council was recognised for our work advocating for Northland AA Members, receiving the 'AA District of the Year' award (after being 'runner up' the previous year).
Representatives from AA Northland District Council receiving a certificate recognising their advocacy work at the 2024 AA Conference.
Contacts for AA Members
District Manager: Ursula Reichel, Whangarei AA Centre