Designing these was an achievement for him, especially as he was dyslexic and struggled at school.
"It wasn't until I joined the police that I really learned how to study and how to learn."
Anderson said while the police and schools taught road safety, it was important for parents to do the same at home.
"We teach road safety, teachers teach road safety, but it all starts with the family."
He suggested that parents, when teaching children about crossing the road, go to a pedestrian crossing and get down to the child's level to understand what they can see.
Anderson said he had been to a number of incidents where children were hit crossing the road when their parents were on the other side.
"Often a parent or someone who's picking the kids up is on the other side of the road waving them across. The kids get really focused on that person and just run across."
He said parents and caregivers should instead cross the road, collect the children and walk them back across the road.
"So many die every year, it's so sad. Having been to a lot of the crashes, you just want to stop that happening.
"Kids are the worst. I've got kids, I've got grandchildren and it's just such a waste."
He said two of the fatalities on the roads last year were people he had taught road safety to as children.
"Maybe they became adults, they were drinking and they were out and about and they got hit. Or they didn't put their seatbelts on one day when they were with their mates.
"In Northland, in the police, we all know everyone. If we don't know them directly, we know someone who knows them. We get affected by that too."
