Julia McLean - PWASNZ Founder
Kia ora,
Have you ever found yourself in a position where everything that’s happened in your life suddenly makes complete sense? And yet up until that point, everything you do is like a mini project of growth and doing life. My story is one that has often made me very sad and then at the same time, very grateful to be alive and walking, and for the strength I have had to find in order to build back.
Saddling up that day is the last memory I have of that former life…..
On October 18, 2008 I was at a point where I felt I was ‘on track’. I had a full-time job as a Broadcast Journalist working for the Six O’clock News, I had bought my first house with my fiancé and I had made the decision to get back into horse riding. Saddling up that day is the last memory I have of that former life. My next memory is in a hospital bed with a gown that didn’t close at the back. Family have filled in the missing bits of how I got there.
“A witness says I was riding on the side of the road, my horse bolted and slipped on the tarmac.I slid down and my head hit the road. I was unconscious and she called the Ambulance. Six days later I was woken from an induced coma.”
I learned I had suffered a head injury and they weren’t sure how bad it was. I was told my helmet saved my life – it was cracked and I had a dent in my skull. I found out I was six weeks pregnant. I was discharged days later into my home. I remember walking in and feeling no connection to anything. Photos, my fiancé, everything felt unfamiliar. My dog. There’s a deep realisation that you’re on your own because you’re the only one that knows what you’ve lost as and when you attempt to do tasks. I had to wear a neck brace for six weeks, wasn’t allowed to drive and was told I was lucky I wasn’t in a wheelchair due to the impact on my neck.
My fiancé had to get back to work. My family too. I was left on my own. I was scared of how to get better. I called my dad who is a doctor and asked what I needed to do. He said the hard drive in my brain had been damaged and it would take time, but I should get a referral to the Concussion Clinic. I did. There I learned the importance of sleep and that social stuff is too much. My support person needs to be my gatekeeper. Together we implemented a plan of sleep and little to no visitors. Social interactions made me cry. My brain couldn’t cope with the stimulation at all. I’d also realised by now that my memory had been wiped – that’s my childhood and education. My word bank was small.
ACC started to make enquiries into my recovery and the pressure to return to work became a focus. There were visits to the doctor and with ACC people to support me. All the while my pregnancy continued and I was aware I had little time to try and get back to work. I survived a TVNZ restructure - stress my family and I didn’t need. I never did get back to work full time before maternity leave kicked in. A failure in my books at the time, but what I know now – it was an imposed goal that makes no sense for a TBI recovery.
June 23, 2009 my son is born
Five weeks in and I laughed for the first time since my accident. I recall the memory as it was Nigel Latta and one of his episodes of parenting. I realised how good it felt to laugh. There wasn’t much of it after that moment. Our child developed reflux, we were fobbed off as neurotic first-time parents, the earthquakes happened on 4 September and we stood in our doorway in the early hours of that morning thinking “is this how it’s going to end?”.
Years later, standing up to the insurance company for a fair payout on our red zone rebuild was to be my first test for my brain. Could I handle phone conversations, recall facts and figures and make sense of it all. It was a battle that nearly broke me because what we stood to lose wasn’t our doing. We stood firm and eventually could make the sums work for a build in 2014.
A new community, and harbouring a lot of anger – I decided to do something positive. I built a BMX track. I identified the land, got community support, presented to the local council for support and started writing funding applications. The end result, $180k track that’s open to community 24/7 and run by a local Club. I came second in a national award for community project builds.
The positive response from community led me to stand for the local elections in 2016. I was elected as a councillor and spent three years exposed to numerous issues and reading reports. I revived and chaired the Road Safety committee and worked alongside some good sorts from NZ Police, NZTA, and the trucking sector. I scripted a 20K Either Way safety school bus video that was one example of my realisation that ‘if not you, then who’. This is what compelled me to lead the Childcare Policy, the illegal tyre pile community clean-up plan and sourcing a swimming pool for Waiau kids following the devastating earthquake. My time in Local Government wasn’t enjoyable but it sure taught me a lot about politics, the speak and process.
August 2022 and I could no longer switch off to the idea that I wouldn’t ride again.
I talked with my family and I got the greenlight. I searched and found someone trustworthy to buy from and haven’t looked back. Toffee is a retired race horse turned eventer. It turns out though my passion isn’t what it once was but more competitive trail riding (CTR) and riding in the back country with my daughter.
Where we live, we can access safe quiet places off the road to ride. They have been where I’ve taught my daughter to ride. I met other riders. Listened. Met more. Listened. Together with another rider, we approached a local forestry company requesting access for horse riders to ride on public land once passing over a small section of commercial forestry managed land. This conversation was my first introduction to the dismissive culture that exists towards horse riders around access and inclusion in public spaces and places.
It led to the North Canterbury Equestrian Advocacy Group (NEAG) being established, and with the support of others, the first submission to local council’s Long Term Plan. We shared it with South Canterbury riders, and soon our group became Canterbury focused (CEAG). As Chair I presented in person or via zoom to all councils in the region. It was strange to be on the other side of the table, this time making a submission, but it felt right and was received positively. It did however become very clear to me that a lack of status for horse riders in legislation was why this sector of community was continuing to receive little to no formal commitment from leaders.
I continued to read and share what I was learning with the Canterbury group. I was encouraged to write a submission on the Government’s Speed Reversal proposal. I did and received the support of horse advocacy groups across the country. I stumbled across the UK Highway Code. Horses have Vulnerable Road User status. In our Code horse riders are referred to as an ‘other road user’ but many times listed as a VRU in consultation documents.
“I emailed an NZTA contact for confirmation of what we are. The response was a surprise. It was confirmed New Zealand’s Transport Agency Literature doesn’t have a formal definition of a VRU.”
This is what I would describe as a gold nugget piece of information. There it was. The answer as to why horse and carriage drivers are left out of road safety messaging and education and not really given the time of day at council tables. With no formal definition, it’s left up to bureaucrats to decide who and how they include equestrians. That’s why you have so many inconsistencies in inclusion, provision and facilities for riders, but we can all agree that there is little to NO education and road safety messaging. In June I read about Victoria State in Australia releasing its recommendations following an inquiry into road user behaviour on vulnerable road users – a recommendation includes horse riders being a VRU. This was the day I knew there was a strong case for NZ riders to receive the same status in transport legislation as cyclists and pedestrians. After all the European Commission definition is pretty clear- anything non-motorised!
A petition was drafted, and I had a transport planner in policy and legislation read over it and make changes. I wrote to five equestrian organisations to support the Petition wording. This push for change required a strong united voice. All five agreed to work with me and so building a case began. That work has now been submitted to the Parliamentary Petitions Committee and will be released publicly once they know what select committees will be needed to deal with the changes being sought. In the meantime, what fell out of the work is the dire situation on the road for horse and carriage drivers. To the extent I couldn’t sleep after three riders used hand signals to slow a truck down, the driver refused and at the last minute the truck did stop. The driver yelled at them and then blasted the horn as it drove off. The following morning, I called my contacts in the trucking industry. I flagged down a highway patrol car that happened to be having a quiet moment where I was parked up for a ride. I asked them for the ‘go to’ in road safety for the district and put the calls in. My press releases were fuelled with rider accounts and my writing stronger for it.
I asked for more road riding stories to be shared with me. They were harrowing. Near misses that could very easily have been fatalities and driver choices on vulnerable people/ animals that clearly had the intent to cause harm and fear. Cross party-political support was there. Local government regional transport committees were committing their support. But more needed to be done now. Lives were at stake. That was very clear to me. I leaned further into a relationship I’d formed in the United Kingdom with the founders of Pass Wide & Slow UK, and they encouraged me to form a NZ version. I did.
About this time, I received a call from Eve. She was a marketing / brand specialist and working with a number of equestrian groups. She could see what I was trying to achieve with the PWASNZ Facebook page and offered to create a brand and strategy that could support my work. That has to be one of the best calls I’ve ever received because the timing was incredible and to have someone believe in me to the extent they were willing to match my pace and passion – for nix – is unique. Her experience delivering road safety messaging for the national transport authority and many international brands, means we can supply targeted road safety messaging for road users. And we have and will continue to do so.
The New Zealand Trucking Assn was the first to stand with PWASNZ branded road safety messaging. Then National Road Carriers, Transporting New Zealand and The Automobile Association’s support was next level and a social media post meant the Pass Wide & Slow message was reaching a larger audience. The icing on the cake was formal endorsement from NZ Police and the speed in which they turned the decision around. Its social media post had an organic (free, not boosted) reached 1,000,000 people. A relationship that can make a significant impact on the safety of equestrians on the road – riding, carting or floating – education and enforcement go hand in hand.
The timing of this endorsement in September allowed the organisers of 50 awareness rides across the country to ride knowing they had the support of some of the very institutions responsible for, or working hard to improve safety on our roading network. We felt the aroha. It’s appreciated.
“There’s more to be done, but New Zealand now has road safety champions for horse riders. The foundations have been laid for a professional, respectful and positively informed space to raise awareness and educate drivers on how to share the road safely with equestrians. ”
My Why
Why am I so passionate about making our roads safer for horse riders and carriage drivers? Because when you know ‘doing nothing’ has a huge price to pay, then you’ll do all you can to lead change. After all, every effort should be made to prevent trauma, injury and death on our roads for all. I am committed to being a strong voice for equestrians. Julia - PWASNZ Founder & Kaupapa Lead
