Surveys of Community Attitudes to Road Safety

Introduction

The Department commissions an annual series of national surveys on Australian road safety issues, known as the Survey of Community Attitudes to Road Safety.

Purpose and objectives

The broad purpose of the survey program is to monitor public opinion and behaviour on a range of important road safety issues. These surveys have been commissioned by the Department since 1986, and have come to comprise a unique longitudinal study that influences policy and research decisions among road safety organisations across Australia. The survey results are also of interest to the wider community.

The specific objectives of the survey program are:

to identify community attitudes to major road safety issues
to determine community perceptions and reported behaviour in key areas of road use
to identify any significant changes in such attitudes, perceptions and behaviour, compared with previous years
to identify any significant differences in such attitudes, perceptions and behaviour between Australian states and territories.

How the survey is conducted

The survey is conducted by telephone with at least 1,500 people aged 15 years or over. Respondents are randomly selected within each state and territory, and within broad demographic groups, to accurately represent the adult Australian population.

Issues examined in the survey include:

perceived causes of road crashes
exposure and attitudes to random breath testing
attitudes to speed
perceptions of police enforcement
mobile phone use while driving
reported usage of seat belts
involvement in road crashes, and
experience of fatigue while driving.

Survey reports

For each survey the Department publishes a report detailing the survey methodology, the results and a comparison of selected results with those of previous years.

Recent survey reports are listed below.

Please note the survey was not conducted in 2007.

To find any of the Department's road safety publications, including earlier survey reports, you can search the Road Safety publications database.

Further information about the 2009 Survey

The Social Research Centre has been engaged to conduct the 2009 survey for the Department, and more information can be found here.