RACQ member surveys show: ••85% believe that there should be a specific fund set up to assist in providing counselling services for road crash victims and their family members.
(Market and Communications Research December 2008)
According to the Australian Transport Council, "reductions in road trauma have immediate and significant benefits in public health with lower numbers of people requiring treatment and rehabilitation which is often of long-term nature" (ATC 2008, p24). Allocation of health resources to road crash casualties results in fewer resources being available to attend to other aspects of health care (ATC 2008, p24-25).
The emerging view among road safety researchers is that road injuries and deaths should be viewed as a public health problem as well as a mobility/ transport problem (Townsend and Avenoso 2008, p25). The World Health Organisation has advocated for the health sector to take on a more proactive role and encourages road crash injuries to be viewed as core business (Townsend and Avenoso 2008, p25-26).
Reducing road trauma in Queensland involves focussing not only on how to prevent crashes and reduce their severity, but also on the speed and effectiveness of medical treatment received. This is particularly important in rural and remote parts of Queensland given that crash severity is generally worse in rural areas than in urban areas. Research indicates that rural people involved in crashes are 30% more likely to die while waiting for emergency treatment than urban people (Queensland Parliamentary Travelsafe Committee 2002).
There have been major improvements in road trauma response and management in the past decades, including:
- A range of trauma training resources to assist rural doctors and other health and emergency personnel;
- Provision and establishment of regionally-linked trauma services to improve the response and coordination of road trauma services to victims;
- Introduction of the rural addressing scheme, helping persons seeking assistance following a road crash to direct the appropriate emergency/ health response to the site quickly; and
- Establishment of a network of aero-medical and rescue helicopter services along the east coast of Queensland to complement the services provided throughout much of regional Queensland by the Royal Flying Doctor Service (Queensland Parliamentary Travelsafe Committee 2002).
While these improvements have assisted in the lowering of the Queensland road toll over the last few decades, further attention is needed to continue to reduce the loss of life and injury resulting from delayed access to medical treatment or lack of knowledge of the details of the crash and of those casualties involved.
With the availability of satellite navigation and technological advances in communication networks, emergency alert and tracking devices can notify the relevant emergency services of a vehicle’s location if involved in a crash. For example, the European Union has launched ‘E-call’, which uses a combination of technologies to help to reduce the time between a call to the emergency services and rescue or medical response. The target date for all EU member states to sign-up is September 2011 (Townsend and Avenoso 2008, p26).
As well as locating crash sites, technology can assist in the transportation of casualties from the crash site to medical facilities. RACQ understands that Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads is investigating the possibility of implementing Emergency Vehicle Pre-emption into its STREAMS traffic management system. This system will help to improve safety and reduce emergency vehicle response times by helping them to avoid congestion and giving them traffic signal priority (International Standards Organization Technical Committee 204 2008, p6).
Use of technology in this way is important because it has been identified that "Professional treatment at the collision site, rapid stabilisation and release of patients for transportation and fast and safe transport to a trauma centre increases the chances of survival and decreases the chances of permanent injury. A combined medical and rescue capability is needed and systems supporting them need to be integrated" (Townsend and Avenoso 2008, p26).
The use of telecommunications technology will also play a large role in enabling isolated road crash victims to be diagnosed remotely by medical specialists and sent to the closest available health facility with appropriate medical staff for treatment.
It is important that government at all levels strives towards the realisation of a statewide trauma management system that can promptly and effectively respond to injury road crashes occurring in any part of Queensland.
The Queensland Health, Queensland Ambulance Service and Royal Australasian College of Surgeons 2006 document, A Trauma Plan for Queensland, is endorsed by the Queensland Government. It is the result of detailed analysis and consultation on trauma in Queensland and provides guidance on areas for improvement in regard to all aspects of trauma response and management and injury prevention.
RACQ recognises the value of rapid response and medical intervention in the treatment of road trauma through the Club’s largest community sponsorship program, supporting three of Queensland’s community helicopter rescue providers. RACQ has also sponsored Queensland Fire and Rescue Service road crash rescue training through competitions.
RACQ members also support provision of post-crash care by way of counselling services for road crash victims and their families. Psychological trauma resulting from crashes can greatly impact the lives of victims and their family members and, while there are a range of efforts to prevent/ protect and then treat the physical effects of a crash, the long-lasting and wide-reaching personal effects also need to be considered and at present there are limited services provided in this regard.
Priorities: Road trauma response management
- Continue to improve the provision and delivery of a statewide road trauma management system by ensuring prompt access to trauma services and health facilities in rural and isolated areas.
- Increase the number of rural doctors and paramedical personnel trained in the early management of severe trauma by expanding the delivery of and number of places available in the training programs.
- Improve access and coordination of emergency transportation between road crash sites and health facilities, particularly in rural and isolated areas.
- Encourage motorists and travellers to use technology which enables a vehicle’s location to be automatically transmitted for fast emergency response in the event of a serious crash or stranded vehicle, e.g., provision of satellite phones, GPS or Emergency Positioning Indicating Radio Beacon (E-PIRB) in government, company and private hire vehicles used extensively in isolated areas.
- Trial HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Service) techniques that enable medical personnel to attend and offer care at road trauma sites quickly, until an ambulance arrives by road.
- Educate motorists and local communities on how to report crashes and render assistance at crash sites, particularly in rural and remote areas.
- Expand the application of measures to further assist emergency services in promptly locating crash sites in rural areas, e.g., install roadside identifiers, expand mobile phone coverage.
- Continue to investigate and implement measures to assist emergency services in attending crash sites, e.g., systems to provide traffic priority.
- Continue to investigate the application of in-vehicle Global Positioning Systems (GPS) devices that notify authorities in the event of a crash or other emergency and encourage vehicle manufacturers to develop and introduce new technology that helps emergency services identify, locate and attend vehicles in the event of a crash, while ensuring the safety of the service workers and the casualty victim.
- Expand support for road trauma counselling services to help provide a more holistic approach to post-crash care.
References
Australian Transport Council 2008, National Road Safety Action Plan 2009 and 2010, Australian Transport Council, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
International Standards Organization Technical Committee 204 2008, Working Group 9 Meeting: 10& 11 November 2008, Ottawa Canada: Australian Report 204WG9N0062, Vicroads, Kew, Victoria, Australia.
Market and Communications Research December 2008, RACQ Safety Policy Survey: Quantitative Research Report, Market and Communications Research, Spring Hill, Queensland, Australia.
Queensland Parliamentary Travelsafe Committee 2002, Report on Rural Road Safety In Queensland, Legislative Assembly of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Townsend, E. and Avenoso, A. 2008, "Road Safety as a right and responsibility for all": A Blueprint for the EU’s 4th Road Safety Action Programme 2010 – 2020, European Transport Safety Council, Brussels, Belgium.
Contact
For more information contact RACQ Traffic and Safety on 1300 853 658 or 07 3872 8925, or email traffic@racq.com.au.
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