Aotearoa New Zealand boasts over 539,000 kilometres of streams, rivers, and lakes, none of which are patrolled by lifeguards. The majority of inland bodies of water lack any aquatic safety signage, and even fewer comply with Australian/New Zealand signage standards. Often, there is no public rescue equipment or information about water quality available.
In New Zealand, there have been 171 drownings in rivers, streams, and lakes over the past five years with the total number reaching a staggering 437 preventable fatalities.
Drowning Prevention Auckland engaged with ActiveXchange to obtain data to assist in the provision of data driven safety measures including infrastructure recommendations, signage, public rescue equipment, and environmental recommendations.
Identify estimated user numbers and peak times
Provide councils with an understanding of site users
Inform recommendations to improve public safety
ActiveXchange’s Movement Data has enabled Drowning Prevention Auckland (DPA) to significantly improve how site user data is gathered. Historically, DPA relied on manual methods of data collection (e.g. car counting or employing staff to count people on site). DPA is now able to obtain accurate site user numbers more efficiently, with the ability to track locations at a click of a button.
The Movement Dashboard feature then enables DPA to track and monitor sites, view activity levels and visits by hour, day and month as well as analyse year on year trends.
DPA can identify popular sub-areas at larger sites, where historically DPA used to guess where people congregated at inland water sites. Using ActiveXchange’s data, DPA are now are able to use clearly defined areas (100m x 100m grids) to isolate and evidence to Council which areas of these sites are more popular to recreate in.
Councils can now better understand the sites’ peak user times, and focus on activity around high-risk sites that may require additional safety measures. The mapping visuals enable DPA to make recommendations to council to support decisions on resource allocation such as installing safety signage, investing in public rescue equipment, and upgrading or developing infrastructure at the site.
ActiveXchange’s Movement Data validates DPA recommendations in terms of public rescue equipment, signage and infrastructure decision making.
DPA can now use this data to implement effective interventions around education and advocacy by targeted times of high visitation at the site as opposed to guessing.
The platform further provides strength and an evidence base to our recommendations with quantifiable data to enable councils to make evidence based, best practice decisions around community safety.
Absolutely brilliant, instantaneous access to user data that eliminates all guess work from evidence-based safety recommendations for community members. This data assists us to make best practice decisions for communities to improve safety in, on and around the water.
