'I Only Looked Away for a Split Second...': The Role of Distraction in Driver and Rider Crashes in Rural and Remote North Queensland

The overall program goal is to reduce the incidence and economic, medical and social costs of road crashes in rural and remote Queensland. Why rural road safety? 21% of the population of Queensland live in rural areas. 39% of serious road crash injuries occur there. Study aims: - Understand behavioural and social factors contributing to crashes - Develop, identify and trial targeted interventions. Study area: - North and west of Bowen excluding urban areas of Townsville and Cairns - 40% of Queensland's land area

'Safe School Travel is No Accident!' - Applying the Haddon Matrix to School Transport Safety

Given the high value placed on a child’s life, safe school travel remains a priority issue for the Australian public and Government. Research objectives. This paper specifically documents the six-month work plan and multifaceted inquiry process adopted by the School Transport Safety Task Force in an attempt to review and provide recommendations to improve school transport safety in Queensland. Methods and data sources. Based on a review of current policy, practice and research in relation to school transport safety (stage 1) and extensive consultation with community groups (stage 2) and road safety professionals (stage 3), the Task Force acknowledged the need to confront risk-management and examine school transport safety in a systematic fashion. Results and discussion. In response, a research tool conceptualising the diverse range of school transport safety issues and strategies in an expanded Haddon Matrix framework was developed. The systematic structure of the 'School Transport Safety Matrix', in particular the 'socioeconomic environment' component, ensures the problem is examined in context and that feasibility and logistical concerns expressed by professionals in the field (eg. QT and QPS policy and legislative limitations, organisational culture of the bus industry, resource allocation decision-making processes, other facilitators and barriers to change) are given due consideration when prioritising recommendations

Vision Zero for Queensland School Students: Transferring Developmental & Cognitive Research into Road Safety Policy and Practice

The last decade has seen a rapid increase in the use of mopeds and scooters in some cities where they have traditionally been uncommon. One such city is Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian State of Queensland, where a 50cc moped may be ridden on a car licence, while riders of larger scooters require a motorcycle licence. The first study reported here observed stationary powered two-wheelers (PTWs) in designated parking areas at six-monthly intervals from August 2008. Over one third of all PTWs observed were either mopeds (22%) or larger scooters (14%), while the majority were motorcycles (64%) (n = 2037). Focus groups were then held to explore riders’ perspectives on safety and transport planning issues. Parking availability, traffic congestion, cost, time-efficiency were frequently mentioned motivating factors. Moped riders were younger and less experienced and less likely to have undertaken or value rider training, and less likely to wear protective clothing

Whole-of-community approaches to school transport safety: Evaluation of the Safe Travel for School Communities Trial

Based on a review of current policy and practice, extensive community consultation and advice from experts and practitioners, the School Transport Safety Task Force handed down recommendations to government in October 2001 to improve school transport safety in Queensland. The overwhelming conviction of the Task Force (2001) was that school transport safety is a 'whole-of-community' problem and that interventions will only work with 'whole-of-community' awareness and commitment. The Task Force stressed that community partnerships would need operational leadership from Queensland Transport (QT) and state education authorities. The first community engagement initiative was the Safe Travel for School Communities Trial conducted in the latter half of 2002 at four sites - Tullawong, Childers, Tannum Sands and Cairns West. Phase one of the project involved the provision of community engagement and road safety training to a Community Participation Officer (CPO) in each of the four trial sites. Phase two of the project involved six month on-the-ground trials in the chosen school communities. During this time, CPOs [with the support of regional QT and education authorities] aimed to engage the local community in the development of a Local School Transport Action Plan and work towards the realisation of the goals specified in the plan. Phase three of the project involved a comprehensive process evaluation of the trial, including post-trial consultations with CPOs, regional road safety advisors, school community members and the manager of QT Community Programs Section. Using and "action research" framework [ie. the logic model of program evaluation], the evaluation: (1) identified the strengths and weaknesses associated with different engagement methodologies; and (2) examined the transferability and sustainability of varying approaches. The outcomes of the trial will influence future community-based road safety policy and practice in Queensland

Drink Walking: An Examination of the Related Behaviour and Attitudes of Young People

While huge inroads have been made into the drink driving problem in Queensland, the prevalence of alcohol-related pedestrian crashes has been steadily increasing. Young people (17-29 years) are over-represented in these pedestrian crashes. An exploratory study of 78 young people was conducted to examine the issue of drink walking (walking at Blood Alcohol Concentration levels greater than .05mg/ml) as part of a larger program of research examining youth and risk-taking behaviour. The study involved breath testing and surveying patrons as they left a licensed premise. Items addressed past experiences of drink walking behaviour, knowledge and perceptions of the dangers and legal consequences associated with drink walking and drink driving, trip planning, and factors influencing choice of transport mode. Results revealed that while most people indicated that drinking arrangements were a large factor in planning how to get home, most intended to travel by car with friends. However, 55% of the sample recalled situations when alcohol had impaired their ability to walk to their destination. Approximately half of the sample had heard of the term drink walking but associated it with travelling home (rather than between licensed venues) and with higher levels of intoxication compared to drink driving. The implications of the findings for the design of educational campaigns and other interventions are discussed

Understanding the Roles of Remoteness and Indigenous Status in Rural and Remote Road Trauma in North Queensland: Using a Mixed-Methods Approach

Road trauma is a significant health problem in rural and remote regions of Australia, particularly for Indigenous communities. This study aims to identify and compare the circumstances leading to (proximal causation) and social determinants of (distal causation) crashes of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in these regions and their relation to remoteness. This is a topic seriously under-researched in Australia. Modelled on an earlier study, 229 persons injured in crashes were recruited from local health facilities in rural and remote North Queensland and interviewed, mainly by telephone, according to a fixed protocol which included a detailed narrative of the circumstances of the crash. A qualitative analysis of these narratives identified several core themes, further explored statistically in this sample, supplemented by participants in the earlier study with compatible questionnaire data, designed to determine which factors were more closely associated with Indigenous status and which with remoteness. Indigenous participants were less often vehicle controllers, more likely to have recently been a drink driver or passenger thereof; to be unemployed, unlicensed, distracted or fatigued before the crash, alcohol dependent and have lower perceived social, but not personal, locus of control in a traffic crash than non-Indigenous persons. Differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants are largely ascribable to hardship and transport disadvantage due to lack of access to licensing and associated limitations on employment opportunities. Based on these findings, a number of policy recommendations relating to educational, enforcement and engineering issues have been made

An Investigation into the Self-Reported Effectiveness of a Distance-Education Drink Driving Rehabilitation Program for a Group of Drink Drivers

This paper reports on the examination of a group of convicted drink drivers’ self-reported appraisals regarding the effectiveness of a court-ordered distance education drink driving rehabilitation program (N = 51). The analysis indicated that participants were satisfied with the implementation and content of the program, and reported program completion had a positive effect on improving their knowledge and skills to avoid drink driving. Despite this, approximately 25% of participants reported it likely they would drink and drive in the future, with such intentions being associated with attitudes and beliefs about drink driving rather than with the appraisal of program effectiveness. The findings have implications for the implementation of distance education rehabilitation programs to remote communities and the development of effective countermeasures that reduce the prevalence of drink driving

Profiling Indigenous & non-Indigenous road trauma in rural and remote North Queensland : it's not all black and white

The research examined the individual and collective influence of ‘Indigenous status’ and ‘remoteness’ on road crash profiles. Interviews with 229 crash patients recruited through health facilities in North Queensland showed that involvement of unsafe behaviours in crashes increased with remoteness, and were more marked among Indigenous patients (proximal causation). Themes identified as influencing behaviour included social acceptance of risk (‘rural way of life’), bravado among young males and feelings of hopelessness among the Indigenous sample (distal causation). Using this knowledge, recommendations are provided under the ‘Safe System’ framework with a particular focus on improving Indigenous program development and delivery

Australian Indigenous road safety: 2005 update.Vol. CR225.

In actioning one of the recommendations to come out of the 2004 indigenous Road Safety Forum and Working Group, the ATSB commissioned ARRB Group to update the indigenous Road Safety Scoping Study that they had completed in 2003. The literature review and consultation process was revisited in an attempt to identify the current state of indigenous road safety in Australia. The data analysis was not revisited although the results of the original analyses are presented within this report. The literature review identified data sources and limitations, such as difficulties defining ‘indigenous status’ and estimating base populations. Secondly, the review highlighted indigenous road safety trends in Australia, focusing specifically on known risk factors. Initiatives that have been, or are currently being, undertaken to address indigenous road safety issues (including community development, licensing, alcohol, restraint wearing, and vehicle purchasing) were identified during the consultation process. Eleven recommendations for future research and priority areas for indigenous road safety in Australia were derived from the literature review and consultation processes