Former South Otago police officer Constable Mark Wellstead has received a commendation from the Police Commissioner for his work in developing a driver education programme following one of the district's worst crashes.
He received a bronze merit award from Commissioner Howard Broad for his efforts in setting up the award-winning "Thirsty Thursday" campaign, which reconstructed, through the use of emergency call audio, actors and the actual crash vehicle, the major crash near Milburn in December 2005, in which Regan Devlin was killed and another 11 young people were injured.
Const Wellstead's citation said he attended the crash and soon after identified the need for an education package to warn young drivers of the dangers they faced when mixing excessive speed, alcohol, drugs, and vehicles that were unroadworthy with inexperienced drivers.
The "Thirsty Thursday" programme was delivered to young people in the Dunedin-Clutha area at 22 secondary schools.
It won the 2008 national road safety innovation award as well as the Premier Award in the community category at last year's Road Safety Innovation Awards in Wellington.
