Review of Western Australian drug driving laws

In 2007, the Western Australian Road Traffic Act 1974 was amended to allow for new police enforcement practices designed to reduce the incidence of drug driving. The Road Traffic Amendment (Drugs) Act 2007 made provision for two new offences: driving with the presence of a prescribed illicit drug in oral fluid or blood, and driving while impaired by a drug. The prescribed drugs were methamphetamine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or ecstasy) and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis). As part of the new laws, statute 72A was inserted into the Act requiring that the Western Australian State Government undertake a review of the amended legislation after 12 months of operation. This report provides a review of the amended legislation and the associated drug driving law enforcement. It includes a process review of the roadside oral fluid testing and drug impaired driving enforcement programs; an analysis of testing, offence detection and legal penalty data pertaining to the first year of operation of the new drug enforcement measures; and a report on consultations with various stakeholders. These form the basis for recommendations on possible improvements to the processes and legislation related to the deterrence of driving after drug use among Western Australian drivers.J.E. Woolley and M.R.J. Baldoc

In-depth research into rural road crashes

This report was produced under an agreement between Transport SA and the Road Accident Research Unit formed in the late 1990s. Due to various delays in the publication of this report, Transport SA has since become the Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure and the Road Accident Research Unit has become the Centre for Automotive Safety Research. The report describes a series of 236 rural road crashes investigated between 1 March 1998 and 29 February 2000 in South Australia. Investigations began with immediate attendance at the scene of the crash. The information collected for each crash included: photographs of the crash scene and vehicles involved, video record of the crash scene and vehicles in selected cases, examination of the road environment, a site plan of the crash scene and vehicle movements in the crash, examination and measurements of the vehicles involved, interviews with crash participants, interviews with witnesses, interviews with police, information on the official police report, information from Coroner’s reports, and injury data for the injured crash participants. The report provides an overall statistical summary of the sample of crashes investigated, followed by a detailed examination of the road infrastructure issues contributing to the crashes. This is done on the basis of crash type, with separate sections concerned with single vehicle crashes, midblock crashes and crashes at intersections. A section is also provided that examines the role of roadside hazards in the crashes.Baldock MRJ, Kloeden CN and McLean A

New Perspectives on Congressional Collections: A Study of Survey and Assessment

Archivists have grappled with the processing and management challenges of congressional collections, but have spent less time exploring the use of these collections or their utility for research outside traditional topics and disciplines. This case study examines how two department projects produced new insights into congressional collections at an institution examining the importance of its political materials within its collection development policy. A survey of Native American collection materials led to a new understanding of the vast scholarly potential of congressional collections. Likewise, a general assessment of special collections revealed the popularity of congressional collections and the nature of their users. The article recommends using data-informed analysis and a better understanding of American political life for the future development and promotion of congressional collections within and outside the library

Self-regulation of driving and its relationship to driving ability among older adults

Although it is known that older drivers limit their driving, it is not known whether this self-regulation is related to actual driving ability. A sample of 104 older drivers, aged between 60 and 92, completed a questionnaire about driving habits and attitudes. Ninety of these drivers also completed a structured on-road driving test. A measure of self-regulation was derived from drivers’ self-reported avoidance of difficult driving situations. The on-road driving test involved a standard assessment used to determine fitness to drive. Of the 90 participants who completed the driving assessment, 68 passed the test, eight passed but were recommended to have driving lessons and 14 failed. Driving test scores for the study were based on the number of errors committed in the driving tests, with weightings given according to the seriousness of the errors. The most commonly avoided difficult driving situations were parallel parking and driving at night in the rain, while the least avoided situation was driving alone. Poorer performance on the driving test was not strongly related to overall avoidance of difficult driving situations. Stronger relationships were found between driving ability and avoidance of specific difficult driving situations. These specific driving situations were the ones in which the drivers had low confidence and that the drivers were most able to avoid if they wished to. These results may reflect a tendency for those with poorer driving ability to lose confidence in their driving, and begin to avoid difficult driving situations. However, there are a number of situations that drivers find difficult to avoid.M.R.J. Baldock, J.L. Mathias, A.J. McLean, A. Bernd

Evaluation of the Environmental Impact of Milk Quotas

The aim of this study is to examine the environmental impacts of the different systems for allocation and transfer of milk quota under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in individual Member States of the European Union (EU). In particular, it seeks to identify the ways in which differences in the implementation of milk quota regimes can impact on various sectoral and farm management trends and the environmental implications of these

Design and fabrication of a new class of cutting tool material using additive manufacturing

Australian manufacturing is undergoing major structural change due to globalisation and changing customer needs. As part of this change, there is a growing recognition that Australian manufacturers need to work smarter and be more innovative in areas such as high value manufacturing. This project aims to make a contribution by breaking away from the constraints and limitations of conventional cutting tool materials, namely, high speed steel (HSS) and cemented carbide, and fabricate new designs of cutting tools using the emerging technology of freeform additive manufacturing. The initial work in this thesis is concerned with the fabrication of open cellular architectures in the alloy Ti6Al4V using electron beam melting (EBM) technology. The focus was on their ability to sustain load in compression testing. The potential for improving the load bearing capacity through the exploitation of vapour deposition and infiltration methods was explored with a view to developing a new design of cutting tool. The latter was fabricated in the form of cutting tool inserts using both EBM and selective laser melting (SLM) techniques. The inserts were used in accelerated turning tests to demonstrate, by way of proof of concept, that such new designs of cutting tools could be used to generate chips in machining. Developments of the type outlined in this investigation open the possibility for the exploitation of new purpose built cutting tool technology