Regional Road Safety Community Event, Roma 2019

Summary and key themes

Date: Wednesday 28 August 2019

Place: Roma Explorers Inn, 44778 Warrego Highway, Roma

Background

On 28 August 2019, the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) hosted a Regional Queensland Road Safety Community Event in Roma which focused on the key road safety issues affecting the Maranoa Region. The Honourable Mark Bailey MP, Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Andrew Mahon, General Manager (Land Transport Safety and Regulation) of TMR, and Mike Keating, Assistant Commissioner (Road Policing Command) of the Queensland Police Service were at the event. They engaged with event participants which included 19 community members as well as 31 delegates representing community groups, local industry and government agencies.

Minister Bailey welcomed everyone in attendance and Andrew Mahon led an open forum where delegates were joined by local community members to outline the top road safety issues they see for themselves and their community. Several notable themes emerged from the discussions.

Where to from here

The Queensland Government sincerely thanks all participants for their time and input. The themes and ideas discussed during the forum support the next Queensland Road Safety Action Plan 2020-21 and inform the development of the next road safety strategy. Key themes, discussion points and a sample of specific initiatives are outlined below.

Key themes

Note: The below summary aims to capture the key discussion themes raised by a range of participants at the forum and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Queensland Government or all participants.

Distraction and fatigue, more education and training and better infrastructure planning were identified as key areas for improvement at the event.

Participants identified that drivers in the local area may be undertaking long trips and as a result may be driving with little rest. It was suggested that leveraging technology and the methods currently in place for some industry and heavy vehicle operators to monitor fatigue, could be applied for all road users.

While greater road safety education and training was recommended across the board, several specific areas were also identified. Participants highlighted the need for education and/or training for:

• caravan drivers
• parents teaching their children to drive
• individuals about sharing the road with other road users using vehicle types they are unfamiliar with (for example; heavy vehicles, vehicles with manual transmissions)
• young people
• when a person renews their licence.

Within the broader area of infrastructure, community members raised the importance of providing safe places to overtake heavy vehicles on highways, considering lower speed limits and targeting infrastructure changes to riskier spots around the area.

Ideas

The discussions generated a number of ideas for potential action. These centred around increased education and training, licensing reforms and specific measures targeting younger road users and road users as they age. These inputs will support the actions presented in the Queensland Road Safety Action Plan 2019-21. The actions will align with the framework outlined in the Queensland Road Safety Strategy 2015-21 and specifically around the four pillars of the Safe System (that is, safe speeds, safe road users, safe vehicles and safe roads and roadsides).