Pulling strings for safety

As the country debates the driving age and road safety after a series of fatal smashes involving young people, Bay man Dan Martin thinks he's found part of the answer - puppets.
Puppet power is a unique tool being developed by Mr Martin - known as "the Puppet Man" to drive home road safety to Bay primary school children.
Mr Martin is preparing a road safety programme in association with the Tauranga and Western Bay Joint Road Safety Group that will begin touring 52 Western Bay and Tauranga schools next year.
A puppeteer of 40 years - and ventriloquist - Mr Martin needs no convincing of the power of the puppet to teach future drivers.
His programme features policeman Sergeant Jacko, dreadlocked Rasta, Kool Claude, naughty Phoebe and Bobby, a Holden car with attitude, a bossy street lamp named Shiner and, the central character, Poorangi the pukeko who is endowed with minimal road knowledge.
Each of the characters gets themselves into dangerous situations typical of all kids - Rasta rides his bike without a helmet and crashes, injuring his head; Claude chases a ball onto the road and gets hit by a car; Bobby and Phoebe fall on the road while fooling around on the footpath, causing a car to smash into the streetlight and Bully breaks every skateboard rule in the book.Mr Martin said puppet theatre draws children into its power through putting them into a scenario that is non-threatening, yet they identify closely with the characters.
"It is not an adult telling them to do this or not to do that. They can relate to puppets. I can be standing there telling them something, but it is coming through a puppet and they really listen - and remember," he said. "I can take them through all those scenarios in half an hour and it gives them a lot to think about - don't run out on to the road after a ball, don't push each other on the footpath, be careful where you ride your skateboard - rules are there for a reason and, at the end, we show Poorangi how to cross the road."
Funded by Environment Bay of Plenty and the joint road safety group, the programme will include DVDs, videos, talking books and live puppet theatre.
Tauranga and Western Bay Road Safety co-ordinator Lynnette Hines said the programme has huge potential to get the road safety message across to young children.