Indigenous Road Safety

5th Indigenous Road Safety Forum

The Department, in conjunction with the Roads and Traffic Authority NSW, held the 5th Indigenous Road Safety Forum at the BreakFree Aanuka Resort, Coffs Harbour from the 10 to 12 November 2010.

Following a Welcome to Country by Community Elder, Aunty Sue Hoskins, the Forum was formally opened with an address by the Hon Catherine King MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Transport. It was attended by members of the National Road Safety Council and over 100 people, with a wide range of skills and interests in Indigenous road safety. Participants included representatives from community groups, government agencies in the road safety, health and justice sectors, police, commercial organisations, academic institutions and local government.

The objectives of the Forum were to share resources and information to maintain an ongoing national commitment to addressing road safety issues that affect Indigenous people and make recommendations for practical and locally-relevant initiatives. The forum included a day trip to the Gumbaynggirr Aboriginal Community of Corindi Beach, presentations on key road safety issues affecting Indigenous people and workshop discussions focussing on those issues.

Topics covered during the forum included:

• Injury of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island People due to transport
• Road safety infrastructure assessments for NSW identified Aboriginal Communities
• Information sharing related to Indigenous road safety through the HealthInfoNet website
• A preliminary assessment of Aboriginal fatalities on NSW roads
• A case study of best practice implementation of road safety measures in Queensland’s Woorabinda Community
• Strategic and action planning in NSW
• Lessons learned and national implications of a safe systems audit in remote Indigenous Communities
• Road safety for Indigenous New Zealanders
• An evidence-based action plan for prevention of road traffic injuries among Indigenous Australians
• Aboriginal licensing in NSW
• Alcohol interlock demonstration project.

Facilitated workshops were held on the following topics:

• Driver licensing (Facilitator: Nigel Robinson - NSW RTA)
• Safe System approach in Aboriginal Communities (Facilitator: Brad Hamilton - NSW RTA)
• Alcohol, drink driving: the big picture (Facilitators: David Willmette - Red Tracx Training, Australia and Colin Edmonston - Department of Transport and Main Roads, Queensland)
• Implementation and evaluation of injury projects in Aboriginal communities (Facilitator: Rebecca Ivers - the George Institute for Global Health and James Harrison - Flinders University)

A report on the forum and other related material will be available on this website when released.

Indigenous Road Safety Grant

The Indigenous Road Safety Grant was awarded to Professor Barry Watson, Director of the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety at the Queensland University of Technology (CARRS-Q).

A grant of $29,720 was awarded for a project to develop a national protocol for the development and delivery of Indigenous road safety programs to Indigenous communities across Australia. This project involves close collaboration between CARRS-Q, the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads and the Woorabinda Community.

The project identifies the scope for improving current Indigenous road safety initiatives and develop a documented model of best practice for delivering road safety programs to Indigenous communities across Australia. The research presented a report on its findings to the 5th Indigenous Road Safety Forum in November 2010, and a final report will be provided to the Department in 2011.

Further Information

The National Road Safety Strategy 2011-2020 was released on 20 May 2011 by the Australian Transport Council (ATC). A key challenge identified in the Strategy is to reduce the incidence of serious casualties within Indigenous communities and among other disadvantaged people. The Strategy proposes a number of initiatives to improve Indigenous road safety.

• National Road Safety Strategy

Outcomes from the Forum

• Invitations for the visit to the Gumbaynggirr Aboriginal Community of Corindi Beach and the Forum [PDF: 514 KB]
  
  
• Forum program at the BreakFree Aanuka Resort [PDF: 838 KB]
  
  
• Powerpoint presentations:
  
  
  • Colin Edmonston & Kylie Major-Oakley
    [PPT: 2571 KB]
    
    
  • James Harrison and Geoff Henley, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, National Injury Surveillance Unit
    [PPT: 657 KB]
    
    
  • Leo S Mortimer, Manager Safety, Road & Rail, New Zealand Ministry of Transport
    [PPT: 1299 KB]
    
    
  • NSW Centre for Road Safety
    [PPT: 1792 KB]
    
    
  • Tavender EJ, Ivers RQ, Gruen R - Royal Australian College of Surgeons
    [PPT: 1085 KB]
    
    
• Forum report highlighting major issues arising from the discussions
  [PDF: 81 KB] [DOC: 56 KB]
  
  
• Postcard featuring artwork by artist Jingalu Melissa Craig from the Yarrawarra Aboriginal Cultural Centre [PDF: 447 KB]
  Note: The painting depicted in this postcard was purchased from the artist Jingalu Melissa Craig by the Commonwealth and was gifted back to the Gumbaynggirr Aboriginal Community of Corindi Beach.

• Photographs taken at the Forum [ Click images for larger view ]

Parliamentary Secretary Catherine King	Dr Nino Scuderi (L) Assoc. Prof. Rebecca Ivers (R)
Mr Joe Motha (L) Emer. Prof. MaryAnn Bin-Sallik (R)	Mr Leo Mortimer
Mr Colin Edmonston (L) Ms Kylie Major-Oakley (R)	Ms Margaret Pendergast
Emer. Prof. MaryAnn Bin-Sallik (L) Parliamentary Secretary  Catherine King (R)	Mr Michael De Roos
Prof. James Harrison	Ms Christine Potter
Emer. Prof. MaryAnn Bin-Sallik

References

• Injury of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people due to transport, 2003-04 to 2008
• 4th Indigenous Road Safety Forum, Cairns, Queensland, 29-31 October 2008 [PDF: 20 KB]
• National Road Safety Strategy 2001-2010 and Action Plans. Updated November 2008
• Road Safety and Indigenous Australians: A Statistical Summary [PDF: 112 KB]
  Prepared for the 4th Indigenous Road Safety Forum, 29-31 October 2008.
  
• Progress on recommended actions from the 2006 Indigenous Road Safety Forum [PDF: 767 KB] October 2008
• Aboriginal People Travelling Well: Issues of safety, transport and health October 2008.
• Injury of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People due to transport, 2001-02 to 2005-06 September 2008.
• Injury of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people due to transport, 1999-00 to 2003-04 May 2007.
• Recommendations from the Third Indigenous Road Safety Forum, Broome, Western Australia [DOC: 81 KB] 23-25 October 2006.
• Road Safety Among Indigenous Australians: A Statistical Profile. Prepared for the 3rd Indigenous Road Safety Forum, 23-25 October 2006.
• Summary of the 3rd Indigenous Road Safety Forum, Broome, Western Australia, October 2006
• Australian Indigenous Road Safety: 2005 Update. ARRB Group report. June 2006.
• Driveway deaths of child pedestrians. ATSB Monograph 18. Includes an analysis relating to Indigenous children. April 2006.
• Progress on recommended actions from the September 2004 Road Safety Forum - advice from the Indigenous Road Safety Working Group. November 2005.
• Austroads research Report, Road Safety in Rural and Remote areas of Australia August 2005.
• Road Safety in Australia - A publication commemorating World Health Day 2004 [PDF: 91 KB] Chapter 28, Indigenous people, pp 228-233. November 2004.
• Profile of Road Safety Among Indigenous Australians, Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Discussion paper prepared for the Indigenous Road Safety Forum and Working Group, September 2004.
• Summary of outcomes from the 2004 Indigenous Road Safety Forum. September 2004.
• Australian Indigenous Road Safety, ARRB Transport Research Ltd, December 2003.
• Corrugations to Highways, Aboriginal Road Safety Video, National Aboriginal Road Safety Video Project Team. May 2002
• Estimating Road Trauma in the Australian indigenous population, Australian Transport Safety Bureau, January 2000.

Related Websites

• HealthInfoNet Indigenous Road Safety website