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Paper Title:
Road Safety in Queensland
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Remote Communities
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Authors:
June Powell, N.R Rumble,
Stuart Wright, Mark Odgaard
Abstract:
A 1994 National Injury
Surveillance Unit Survey found that Indigenous people throughout
Australia were three times more likely to be involved in road trauma
than non indigenous persons. In 1998 a survey of five remote communities
indicated this figure could be twice this level. As 92 % of indigenous
people who live in remote communities reside within the Northern
Region, a trial project was initiated in 1997 and conducted in the
Northern Region of Queensland Transport. Delivery of the project
is through the employment of an officer who works with the communities
to reduce the overrepresentation of indigenous people involved in
road trauma through increasing the awareness of transport safety
in remote communities and supporting them to identify, plan and
solve their own transport safety issues.
Successes to date include
the development of community driven road safety programs for children,
involvement of communities in reenactment of road crashes as an
education tool, improved infrastructure and the development of resources
by and for the use of indigenous people. The project is supported
through the provision of grants to the communities. Several successful
applications have resulted in some unique community road safety
initiatives. The limitation of the project includes departmental
resources to support the communities, the remoteness of the communities
and limited life funding of the project.
As the project was a
trial an evaluation is currently underway and this will be completed
by September 2001. The evaluation will involve analysis of the results
of the project and will recommend a model/s to expand the trial
throughout Queensland.
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