Making the strategy work
HOW THE STRATEGY WILL WORK
Shorter term action plans and performance measures will be used to ensure the effectiveness and responsiveness of the arrive alive 2008-2017 strategy across its 10 year time frame.
Timeframe
The arrive alive 2008-2017 strategy sets the direction for road safety initiatives in Victoria for the 10 years 2008 to 2017.
The time frame of the strategy allows programs requiring an ongoing sustained effort to realise road safety benefits to be properly planned and delivered.
For example, improving the safety features in vehicles – a key element in the strategy – requires an ongoing public education campaign to first increase consumer awareness and demand for safer vehicles, thereby prompting vehicle manufacturers to respond to consumer led demand.
Measuring performance
Monitoring and evaluating the performance of the strategy – and specific road safety initiatives detailed in the arrive alive 2008 - 2017 action plans – are essential to achieving the strategy’s targets.
To ensure these targets are achieved, overall and specific measures will be used to monitor performance. These measures will enable progress to be assessed and emerging issues to be identified and addressed.
Measures of injury severity will be monitored using hospital casualty data. The benefits through reductions in the severity of crash outcomes will be measured by those hospitalised for more than 14 days compared to those hospitalised for more than one day. This validated measure will determine trends over time in the severity of injuries.
Action plans
To ensure that the effectiveness of the strategy is sustained across its 10 year time frame, three shorter term action plans will be developed to deliver the strategy. The action plans will ensure that the strategy remains relevant, effective and on-track to meet the Victorian Government’s new targets for road safety.
Each action plan will deliver a comprehensive range of activities in line with the strategy’s broad directions and initiatives across eight areas of action: public education, enforcement, infrastructure, technology, legislation, licensing, occupational health and safety, and research and data.
Development of the arrive alive 2008 - 2017 action plans will be informed by ongoing community consultation and evaluation of the progress of the arrive alive 2008-2017 strategy. The Victorian Government will involve local government, the Commonwealth Government, RoadSafe Community Road Safety Councils, other key road safety organisations and the general public in developing the action plans.
The success of road safety initiatives set out in each action plan will be measured against clear performance targets. These targets will ensure the progressive reduction of fatal and serious injury crashes over the life of the arrive alive 2008-2017 strategy.
Areas of action
The arrive alive 2008-2017 strategy and action plans will apply the Safe System approach to designing and introducing programs that link the various components of the strategy to deliver greater cumulative safety benefits.
Campaigns, projects and investments will be delivered across eight areas of action, giving maximum effect to Victoria’s efforts to save lives and reduce the number of people being seriously injured on our roads.
Community education and awareness
Road users require current, accurate road safety information to play their part in a Safe System of behaving responsibly and in accordance with the road rules.
Under arrive alive 2008-2017, this information will be provided through a combination of mass media and targeted education campaigns together with the Government’s road safety partners, including Community Road Safety Councils, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, and schools and clubs. In addition to traditional media channels, ‘new’ communications media will be harnessed.
Local government, working in collaboration with Community Road Safety Councils, will have an important role in improving safety on local roads through targeted campaigns that address local road safety issues.
arrive alive 2008-2017 recognises that education and information sharing must occur on a two-way basis. Road users need information to be responsible road users; similarly, road safety decision making organisations such as the government, police and road authorities need information about the community’s road safety expectations.
To achieve this important dialogue, arrive alive 2008-2017 will focus on strategies designed to deliver a two-way information sharing process between the road user community and road safety decision making organisations.
Enforcement and deterrence
Research shows that the most effective way to improve road user behaviour is through a combination of education and enforcement of the road rules.
Enforcement seeks to ensure that the majority of road users who behave responsibly are protected from a minority who put the safety of others in jeopardy through anti-social behaviour such as drink driving and speeding.
Enforcement of the road rules has been a key factor in reducing Victoria’s road toll to date, and will continue to be a focus under arrive alive 2008-2017.
The enforcement effort will target key contributing factors to road trauma in Victoria, such as speeding, impaired driving (drugs, alcohol and fatigue) and restraint use.
Legislation
The enforcement effort can only be effective if underpinned by appropriate legislation.
An ongoing priority for arrive alive 2008-2017 and the strategy’s supporting action plans will be to examine existing legislation and, where appropriate, amend or introduce new legislation to respond to emerging road safety trends.
Road safety technology
Maximising technological developments in the areas of vehicle safety, road engineering systems, and enforcement devices will reduce the likelihood of crashes occurring and the severity of outcomes when they do occur.
While the take up of some technologies will be consumer driven, the potential benefits offered by vehicle-based technologies, in particular, are considerable and the Victorian Government will take an active and leading approach to their introduction and promotion.
Under arrive alive 2008-2017, Victoria will continue to lead the way in identifying, developing and introducing a range of the most effective road safety technologies:
Vehicle technology: Increased consumer take up of vehicles with safety features such as electronic stability control and intelligent speed assist has the potential to significantly reduce the likelihood of crashes occurring and the severity of injuries when crashes do occur.
One of the most promising measures to decrease the incidence of single vehicle run-off-road crashes is electronic stability control in which sensors detect loss of control and take corrective action. It is estimated that about 40 road deaths could be prevented in Victoria each year if electronic stability control was fitted in all cars.
Opportunities exist to stimulate the adoption of safer vehicle technology by raising awareness through publicity, fleet purchasing policies and encouraging vehicle manufacturers to introduce safety features available in many overseas vehicles.
Road and roadside technology: Vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure road safety related technology, including speed advisory systems, have the potential to significantly improve safety. Researching, trialling and implementing these technologies are a priority for action under arrive alive 2008-2017.
Enforcement technology: Increasing the use of available technology will improve efficiency in enforcing Victoria’s road rules. These technologies include automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), in-car video systems, a variety of speed monitoring equipment including speed camera technology (such as point-to-point and digital cameras), and roadside drug and alcohol testing devices.
Infrastructure
Improving the safety of roads and roadsides is one of the single most effective measures to reduce the incidence and severity of crashes.
Extensive infrastructure based safety improvements will be implemented under arrive alive 2008-2017 to reduce fatalities and serious injuries from the most common crash types on Victoria’s roads.
These infrastructure projects will be carefully selected to address the most frequent and severe crash types. Treatments will include a mix of proven road safety countermeasures and will be complemented by the introduction of innovative treatments flowing from the strategy’s research and development program.
A key aspect in delivering the Safe System is to match more effectively the speed of vehicles with the inherent safety of our roads and roadsides.
Licensing
Improving the licensing requirements for Victorian motorists will increase safety for all road users, and particularly the most vulnerable users, such as novice drivers and older drivers.
Novice drivers are over represented in crashes by a ratio of three to one compared to experienced drivers and are at particular risk in the first few months of driving. The introduction of a new graduated licensing system, requiring a minimum number of hours of driving practice, will reduce risk for young drivers.
Older drivers are at increased risk of serious injury and death due to the fragility associated with the ageing process. Under arrive alive 2008-2017 opportunities to reduce this risk will be investigated. To maintain safe mobility, older drivers will be encouraged to self-regulate their driving. In addition, the use of conditional licences for medically impaired drivers will be explored.
For people with serious or life threatening injuries or illnesses, organ or tissue transplantation could mean a second chance at life. A consequence of road trauma can often be the need for a donation of life saving organs. The opportunity will be made for all Victorian drivers at the time of licence renewal to indicate they are willing to make an organ donation.
Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) policies
The development of OHS policies used by the Victorian Government and the private sector that address duty of care issues for employees whose work involves driving vehicles has the potential to significantly improve road safety.
OHS policies should emphasise safe driving behaviour required of employees, including travel within speed limits and at an appropriate speed, required use of seatbelts, discouraging any mobile phone use while the vehicle is in motion, responsible alcohol policies and a zero drug requirement.
The selection of safe vehicles by fleet purchasers will be a key means to influence safety on our road system.
Research and data
Victoria will remain at the forefront of road safety research through continual interaction with global experts, the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) and other research specialists. These partnerships will provide a better understanding of why crashes happen and how deaths and injuries can be avoided.
A significant step in research will be the establishment of a specific program with MUARC to develop solutions for activities central to achieving strategy goals and ensuring targets are achieved.
It is important that the collection and analysis of crash related data is continually improved to ensure the ongoing development of innovative and effective road safety countermeasures.
arrive alive 2008-2017 will establish better data sets and linkages between different agencies, creating a repository of rich information to understand high risk road user behaviours, crashes and their outcomes.
