Involving all Victorians
Improving road safety requires a community effort – and all Victorian road users share a responsibility to help make our roads safer.
Substantial benefits can be achieved by involving the community in road safety activities as much as possible. Community participation in road safety is essential for:
- providing government and other decision makers with a clear and accurate understanding of the public’s priorities and needs, especially at the local level
- maintaining strong public support for road safety initiatives
- disseminating information quickly at the local level
- ensuring the effective delivery of services
- taking road safety messages to as wide an audience as possible, especially to groups within the community that are hard to reach
- encouraging people to act as advocates for road safety.
Greater levels of community participation in road safety have already been achieved in Victoria through:
- ongoing strong partnerships between Victorian Government agencies and community organisations
- highly effective public education, awareness and advertising campaigns
- locally based programs that address specific local issues
- the major role played by local government in delivering initiatives that directly affect road safety
- the substantial contribution made by Victoria’s 24 RoadSafe Community Road Safety Councils, which act as effective advocates for road safety within local communities
- opportunities for road users to contribute to the development of road safety strategies and initiatives.
Community consultation for arrive alive 2008-2017
The Government will continue consulting with Victorian road users about the most effective ways to improve road safety. Consultation for the development of the arrive alive 2008-2017 strategy has been undertaken across the Victorian community, including representatives from local government, research institutes, road user groups, health and education organisations and emergency services.
The Victorian Government recognises that ongoing community engagement and consultation is essential to successfully implementing arrive alive 2008-2017, and will continue to support community partnerships and consultation mechanisms to deliver positive and lasting changes in the attitudes and responses of Victorians to road safety.
