Kiwi motorsport legend and road safety advocate Greg Murphy is celebrating a huge injection of private funds for a youth-focused driver training programme but says it’s a shame the Government hasn’t seen fit to do anything similar.

Murphy is one of the founding trustees of the Street Smart programme which has provided practical driver training for more than 2000 young people since its inception in 2018, until it was forced to shut down in March 2022, after the demise of foundation sponsor Holden.

A funding boost of $750,000 was announced on Saturday at the ITM Taupō Super400 Supercars event, coming from Tony Quinn, the owner of Taupō International Motorsport Park, Highlands Motorsport Park near Queenstown and Hampton Downs.

Murphy said New Zealand could not keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect the grim statistics to change.

“It is literally the definition of insanity and continuously makes me shake my head in disbelief that the numbers, the statistics, the constant media attention around road deaths and injury, it’s never-ending and yet we do the same thing day after day.

“When something really tragic happens, and it happens all the time, we decide to take note of it, and we ask all the same questions as to why is this happening, how do we stop it and nothing gets done. It takes third-party caring people to try and do the work and make the difference. It is nuts, completely nuts.”

Motoring legend Greg Murphy says the driving culture needs to change, not the speed limit. Photo / Paul Taylor

Quinn said it was “a significant investment for a significant problem and I want to see a significant change”.

“I’m not just giving money to make me feel good, I’m not doing it as a key to get into heaven or any of that stuff mate. It’s a serious problem, let’s f###ing do something about it.”

The $750,000 donation via the Tony Quinn Foundation, would support and reinvigorate the programme for the next three years but the “natural progression” would be for the Government to incorporate it into driver licencing requirements, Quinn said.

“You and I drove about in a Corolla in grandpa’s paddock and learned how to drive like that. Nowadays, kids f***ing don’t, they’re on skateboards and s*** like that and they are on the Google box and when you have a crash, a rollover crash, you just press a wee button, reset and you get going again. And although they know it’s not real, subconsciously they think it can’t be that bad.”

”I lost my daughter to cancer so I know how it is to lose a child and it’s like ‘f*** me’, it lasts for years. It’s not like it’s next week that you are all good.”

Drivers under the age of 25 were found primarily responsible for over 3000 crashes in 2022 alone, claiming the lives of 93 people and injuring over 4000 more, 636 of those seriously.

Supercars chief executive Shane Howard (left), Quinn Group chief executive Josie Spillane, Tony Quinn and Street Smart Trustee Greg Murphy at Taupō International Motorsport Park.

The Street Smart programme would kick off at Highlands Motorsport Park, because the community had rallied behind a Givealittle page set up to promote young driver safety, following the death of 17-year-old Kelan Stroud, who was killed in a three-vehicle accident in the Cromwell Gorge in March this year. The page has raised over $20,000.

They reached out to Josie Spillane, group chief executive of Tony Quinn’s motorsport parks.
“Cromwell was deeply affected by this tragedy. We were humbled to be entrusted by Kelan’s family to honour his memory and provide a meaningful experience for local youth. As parents ourselves, we recognise that the Stroud’s grief could have struck any of us.”

Funding from the Tony Quinn Foundation would have operations resume over the school holidays, beginning on July 16-17 for young local drivers at Highlands Motorsport Park, using the funds raised by Stroud’s Givealittle page and a heavily subsidised price of $149 for the Street Smart programme.

Supercars have come on board with additional support, with the programme to involve drivers and teams throughout the year to elevate awareness.

Supercars chief executive Shane Howard said their commitment to New Zealand went beyond the annual event in Taupō, and they were proud to support it to ensure road safety was a top priority.
Murphy said Street Smart provided cognitive, hands-on learning in a controlled, safe environment to prepare drivers for what actually happens on the road.

“Many mistakes are simple, and these learnings will help them adapt to potential eventualities in the real world.”

Since 2020, 351 people under 25 years of age have died on New Zealand roads.

Murphy said driving was a practical task, but driver licensing in New Zealand was still very theory-focused.

“It is such an important practical task with so many skills required, that’s why we have this issue, why we have terrible rates of casualty and death, particularly with youth, because we don’t prepare properly because we focus on a theoretical approach to a very, very hands-on practical task.”

He said Quinn’s three motorsport parks instantly gave them a good spread of venues to do the course but the “dream” was for the Government to invest in basic driver-training facilities around the country.

“If that is the case we can get the majority of drivers through a practical course like Street Smart to build their safety awareness and risk awareness and the skills that are going to prepare them much better to understand what they need to do when they are driving.”

They were now working on dates for rolling out the programme in other areas but Auckland would be a major focus in the coming months because they had a sizeable waitlist in that area before they had to shut down in 2022.

This article was originally published on the NZ Herald here.