Queensland Road Safety Week 2022

Summary key themes and next steps

Ipswich: Monday 22 August 2022

Cairns: Friday 26 August 2022

Summary

The safety of Queenslander's lives is a key priority of the Queensland Government.

As part of Queensland Road Safety Week, local road safety stakeholders came together to discuss local issues and brainstorm opportunities for improvements in Ipswich and Far North Queensland.

We sincerely thank everyone who attended each of the forums and shared their insights.

Ipswich Road Safety Forum

This event focused on the Ipswich region's unique road safety challenges and opportunities. Attendees reviewed the region's road crash data, supported by local stakeholders' intelligence. The session concluded with an interactive activity in which a range of local stakeholder's perspectives were shared, further deepening the understanding of local road safety needs. The forum culminated in an interactive session where participants offered their inputs and insights.

Macro factors impacting current road behaviour

• Staying home – less overseas travel means more Australians on the road, holidaying locally
• Fuel – average cost of fuel has risen, and people are switching to cheaper alternatives such as motorbikes and motorised scooters
• Cost of living – by December, the average household's cost of living will increase by $650 per month
• More connected and distracted – our dependency on technology and mobiles means we are increasingly distracted from the task of driving
• Motorbike registrations – increased in the last 12 months
• Caravans – with less overseas travel, more Australians are buying caravans.

Obstacles that are impacting safe outcomes

• Increased distractions when driving i.e., mobiles
• Population changes and more demand on resources
• Road conditions, mix of high-speed country and urban roads in the district
• Ego driven behaviour and culture of can't be told
• Returning riders and people new to towing
• Local issues and views
• Increased in scooters
• Day trippers, riders not familiar with our roads
• Local transport options can be challenging for some users
• Unable to easily access the target audience.

Initiatives to help drive safer outcomes on Ipswich roads

• Deterrence
• The majority felt cameras and fines were crucial in deterring people from actions/activities that lead to serious injury or death on Ipswich roads.
• Some raised concerns about the recent increases in the fine amounts and how lower socio-economic communities like Ipswich could afford them.
• Education
• Educational ideas included embedding an educational program early in the school curriculum (classroom and practical) to establish correct perceptions, knowledge and behaviours when learning to drive.
• Suggestions were made to re-educate and re-skill certain cohorts to ensure they have the right skills and capability to ride and tow safety.
• Behaviour change
• There was a strong consensus that everyone has a role to play in road safety, not just QPS and TMR. This focus should be 'always on', and not just during Road Safety Week.
• There is an opportunity for QPS and TMR to provide toolboxes, training tools and initiatives to reinforce the desired behaviour and continue the conversation.

Who can play a role to make Ipswich roads safer?

• Parents/carers
• Visitors/interlopers
• Manufacturers of vehicles
• Community groups
• Local media
• Education/schools

Cairns Road Safety Forum

This event focused on the multitude of factors that influence decisions and behaviours relating to purchasing and using vehicles with strong safety features in the Far North Queensland region. Attendees reviewed Cairns' road safety and vehicle data, and participated in an interactive session where participants offered their inputs and insights.

Obstacles that are impacting North Queenslanders getting into safer vehicles

• Affordability
• Stronger focus on the status of a type of car vs safety
• Safety is not top of mind when buying a car
• Supply issues with second hand cars
• Lower trust with authorities post-COVID
• Takes time to build trust with the target audience
• Hard to engage with target audience
• Limited knowledge of what 'safe' is and what to check for
• Unsure who to trust when looking for information about car safety
• Unsure who the expert is.

Initiatives to help get people into safer vehicles

• Education
• There is an overwhelming consensus that education around safer vehicles needs to start early. In addition, attendees felt it would be valuable to incorporate the topic into existing initiatives with primary and high schools.
• Starting early with education helps build an individual's knowledge and can also help remind and re-educate parents.
• Shift mindsets
• One of the biggest barriers to overcome is removing the focus on status when buying a car and getting individuals to consider safety as a key factor in their decision. Of course, the car reflects the driver's image, but how do we make ‘safety’ a greater focus? How do we elevate the importance of safety over status?
• Connect with those already in the game and trusted
• Some great local driver training initiatives provide opportunities to connect with the target audience at a point in time when they would be actively making a decision.

Who forms the ecosystem for safer vehicles?

• Parents/family members – trusted and easily accessible sources of influence
• Driving instructors – present a great opportunity to engage with the target audience in the heat of the moment
• Schools – play a key role in reminding the entire school community of the importance of selecting a safe car
• Community groups – have existing relationships and opportunities to connect with the target audience that can be leveraged.

Next steps

These outcomes align with and reinforce the new strategic concepts and direction for road safety in Queensland as presented in the Queensland Road Safety Strategy 2022-2031 – particularly delivering local and targeted road safety initiatives.

Education also featured at both forums. With this in mind, TMR will work with our school-based education providers to incorporate learnings into program delivery.

Ipswich

Taking the outcomes and using them to inform the educational initiatives delivered through Queensland’s Road Safety Education Blueprint and to build the thinking around the design of future initiatives and action planning.

Cairns

Learnings will be incorporated into the work progressing Action 18 of the Queensland Road Safety Action Plan 2022-2024:

18. Develop approaches to reduce the age of the Queensland fleet, including consideration of a pilot of targeted safe vehicle access programs for young people, low income, and/or older road users in regional and remote communities that retires their old vehicles.

Note, the points listed above reflect the discussion at the forums and not necessarily the views of the Queensland Government or all participants attending on the day. Further, these discussion points will inform future development of initiatives, but it should not be assumed that they will all be adopted.