Fact Sheet 1 - Why Road Safety Priorities?

Because motoring matters in Queensland.

Almost 1.2 million Queenslanders in more than 930,000 households across the state are members of RACQ.

This means that more than one quarter of the State’s population (4.32 million) are RACQ members (based on population figures from Australian Bureau of Statistics 2009). Aged from 16 upwards, the Club’s members represent a large proportion of the State’s voting public.

With at least one car in almost every Queensland home, the private motor vehicle is essential to the lifestyles of our families, the connectivity of our communities, and the vitality of our economy. The importance of the family car, in particular, is reinforced by the decentralised nature of Queensland, its large distances, and lack of public transport in many areas.

Mobility is very important to Queenslanders, and their mobility is heavily dependent on motor vehicles and road infrastructure. A 2007 ANOP study found that 91% of Queensland motorists believe that the car is important in their everyday lives, with 67% rating the car as "extremely important" (ANOP 2007). This result reflects the high level of importance placed on the car by most Queenslanders (ANOP 2007).

Queensland’s 182,000 kilometre road network, including 33,500 kilometres of state-controlled roads (Main Roads 2008), also carries essential goods and services, supporting our resources and agricultural industries, as well as tourism – a large amount of which is motoring-based, and especially with regard to domestic tourism.

The road and traffic environments used by Queenslanders vary widely. They range from busy inter- and intra-urban motorways to quiet country tracks. Each environment differs in its influence on human risk factors, crash rates and crash severity.

Road trauma affects the daily lives of Queenslanders in many ways, whether by learning about it from regular media reports, knowing road crash victims as friends or family, or through their own involvement in road crashes.

Road crashes in Queensland cost an estimated $4 billion annually and road trauma remains a chronic public health issue. The human cost to victims, families and loved ones is immeasurable.

In 2008, 327 people died on Queensland roads and some 6,000 were hospitalised with serious injuries. Road fatalities per 100,000 population for Queensland in 2008 were 7.64. This represented a reduction of 11.2% from 8.61 in 2007, but was noticeably higher than New South Wales at 5.67 and Victoria at 5.74.

Road safety is the top of mind issue for most RACQ members as motorists. As the Queensland motorist’s advocate, the RACQ works actively to represent members’ views and concerns on road safety to government and the wider community. At the same time the Club plays a constructive educational role in the promotion of safe road use.

RACQ member surveys show:

60% nominate road safety as the major top-of-mind motoring issue; and
Of this 60%, 94% rated unsafe road conditions as extremely important.

(Member Issues Monitor 2008)

While all road users must take responsibility for driving safely, the Federal Government plays a major role in providing national road safety leadership, especially with regard to funding of road and road user behaviour projects. State governments also play a major role through engineering, education and enforcement to help ensure our roads, as well as road user skills and behaviour, meet acceptably safe standards.

The RACQ supports a three-pronged, systems-based approach to road safety: safer drivers in safer cars on safer roads.

Australia’s National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS) was formulated by leading road safety researchers and committed to by all federal, state and territory governments. The NRSS targeted a 40% reduction in the rate of fatalities per 100,000 population between 2000 and 2010.

Urgent and meaningful action is required for Queensland to meet its target of 5.6 deaths per 100,000 population by the end of 2011, with the 2008 figure at 7.64.

Strategically applied expenditure on improved roads, road user education, enforcement, safer vehicles and medical treatment for road crash victims should be viewed as an investment, rather than a cost.

The responsibility for addressing the RACQ’s Priorities is shared primarily between the federal and state governments, and the RACQ believes that a ‘whole of government’ approach should be adopted to progress road safety issues in an efficient and effective manner. As road transport is important to the everyday economic, social and mobility needs of the community, it is important to raise the profile of road safety so all government departments and agencies, industry and community play their necessary respective roles.

Traditionally road safety has been seen as the responsibility of a limited number of state government departments primarily associated with roads and transport. Now, more government departments and agencies are recognising that they have a role to play in assisting with the delivery of road safety outcomes.

A ‘whole of government’ approach is required to ensure that all government departments and agencies, industry and community stakeholders are provided with the appropriate guidance, support and awareness, in relation to:

Major road safety issues;
Their roles and responsibilities in delivering road safety outcomes; and
Being aware of what others are doing.

This involves improving working relationships between road authorities, essential service providers (e.g., electricity), road users and environmental groups on issues that impact on the safe provision, maintenance and use of roads.

Scarce resources need to be allocated to road safety initiatives that deliver the highest ratio of benefits to costs. Governments also need to recognise that expenditure on road safety is an investment with substantial and measurable returns.

An enormous challenge lies ahead for those in governments, industry and the broader community to implement practical and effective road safety strategies covering transport, education, legislation, enforcement, design/ engineering, medical treatment and funding.

Put simply, our whole society needs to coordinate, cooperate and commit to safer roads and safer road use.

This edition of Road Safety Priorities is intended not only to provide road safety authorities and other interest groups with a valuable insight into what motorists themselves believe ‘needs to be done’, but also to offer a comprehensive ‘road map’ to achieving safer road use for all Queenslanders. As the title suggests, the recommended actions in each area are prioritised to reflect what the RACQ sees as the most practical and effective countermeasures against road trauma.

Priorities: Strategic, whole of Government approach

Recognise road crash deaths and injuries as key public health and economic issues, requiring a coordinated and adequately funded ‘whole of government’ approach to interventions.
Collect, update and publish road crash data, causes and consequences in an accurate and timely manner.
Require government departments to report on contributions made to improving road safety and to justify road safety funding allocations based on benefits of interventions in order to promote a more accountable, prioritised and effective ‘whole of government’ approach.
Better informed media coverage in relation to government decisions on road safety issues and the evidence supporting them.

References

ANOP Research Services 2007, AAA 2007 National Survey of Motorists: Motorists’ Attitudes and Priorities in Queensland: Special Report for the RACQ, ANOP Research Services Pty Ltd, Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia.

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2009, 3101.0 – Australian Demographic Statistics, Sep 2008, Web Document, Accessed 26/03/09: http://www.abs.gov.au/ ausstats/abs@.nsf/PrimaryMainFeatures/3101.0?OpenDocument

Australian Transport Council 2008, National Road Safety Action Plan: 2007 and 2008, Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

Main Roads 2008, About us, Queensland Government (Department of Main Roads), Web Document, Accessed 26/03/08: http://www.mainroads.qld.gov.au/ web/publicCR.nsf/DOCINDEX/About+us?OpenDocument