Transporting children

Keeping tamariki and rangatahi safe includes when they are travelling to and from games and activities, or away for away fixtures and events.

It’s important that you keep travel and overnight stays as safe environments for children.

Drivers are an important part of travel safety

All drivers should:

have a current full license and their vehicle should be roadworthy (WOF and registered)
be free from alcohol or non-prescription drugs
ensure maximum passenger is not exceeded and that safety belts and boosters where needed are used
have a mobile phone on them at all times in case of emergencies or parents/caregivers need to contact them.

Avoiding one-one-one time is the best way to keep everyone safe. You can do this when arranging travel by:

having a central drop off and pick up point for trips, so there isn’t one child left at the end of a trip
using vans and transporting big groups at once
if travelling by bus, having adults sitting together in pairs, and ensure they are spread throughout the bus for supervision purposes.

If you are driving one child only, you can keep yourself safe by:

letting the child’s caregiver know what’s happening, where you are going, and what time you will be back. If you can’t get hold of them, let your team manager or another parent/caregiver know.
having the child sit in the back seat and dropping them off without detouring to other places.

If you repeatedly find yourself one-on-one with a child, encourage their parents/caregivers to accompany their own child to events.