Friend's death leads to road safety award

Gerald Waters is the first recipient of the award after pushing for changes to the justice system. Photo / Dean Purcell.

When Gerald Waters lost a good friend to a car crash caused by a recidivist drink-driver last year, he vowed to change the system so others would not have to go through such a loss.

But he never imagined that within 18 months, he would go from being a house husband to an internationally recognised road safety advocate and the inaugural recipient of a major international award.

Originally from Wales and now living in Auckland, Mr Waters lost his friend Katherine Kennedy when her car was hit by drunk driver Warren Jenkins in March last year.

Jenkins had 17 previous drink-driving convictions and had been released from prison only 10 days before killing Ms Kennedy.

Mr Waters, 43, who has a performing arts degree, threw himself into researching road safety. He made submissions to parliamentary committees, wrote a paper pushing for drug courts in New Zealand - a pilot programme was given $2 million funding this month - and worked alongside police at drink-drive checkpoints.

His work resulted in an invitation to make a presentation at the Alcohol Interlock Symposium in California last month, where he won the inaugural Barry Sweedler Award. (Mr Sweedler, who passed away in 2009, was an internationally recognised advocate against impaired driving.)

Mr Waters said winning the award was "unreal".

"This is the first year the award has been given and to be the first recipient is an enormous honour.

"We are catching the drink-drivers but not addressing the underlying causes and not doing enough to stop those caught from repeating their behaviour."

Interlocks, to be introduced next year, will be a step towards ending of the "catch and release" approach to drink-drivers in New Zealand, he said.

An interlock is a device fitted to a vehicle that requires the driver to blow a sample of breath that is clear of alcohol before it can be started.

In giving Mr Waters the award, the Traffic Injury Research Foundation praised his "unwavering drive for knowledge on and understanding of the issue of impaired driving, promotion of evidence-based solutions such as alcohol interlocks, and his pursuit of change in the justice system".

Mr Waters is now an adviser to the drug courts programme and the interlocks working group, and continues to push the Government on several areas, including preventive detention as a sentencing option for recidivist drink-drivers, and mandatory drug tests for prisoners on community-based sentences.

Prisoners are subject to a self-reporting regime, which Mr Waters says is hardly a robust system. He is also setting up a charitable trust.