Skip to content | Change text size
 

Accident Research Centre website a big hit

26 September 2007

Monash University Accident Research Centre Director Professor Rod McClure.

The Monash University Accident Research Centre's website has posted big usage gains in the first half of 2007, the most recent research figures have revealed.

MUARC's website, www.monash.edu.au/muarc/ , received a massive 1,490,564 hits in the six months from January 1 to June 30, 2006 -- an 11% increase over the first six months of 2006.

Figures reveal that MUARC's site has become a vital source of injury prevention information for Australian and international users, with an average of 8190 information requests per day and a whopping 211.69 gigabytes of information downloaded over the six months.

May 2007 was the busiest month with 67,690 pages downloaded by site visitors.

"It is terrific to see that the MUARC website has become such a useful hub of information for the general public, students and academics as well as injury prevention experts," MUARC director Professor Rod McClure said.

"The large amount of material downloaded suggests that people are often downloading entire reports, which is a credit to our research team."

Reports posted to the site in 2007 have included research on heavy and light vehicles, four-wheel drive vehicle crash involvement risk, an evaluation into 50kmh speed limits in Queensland, and trends in crashworthiness in the New Zealand vehicle fleet.

Particularly satisfying for MUARC has been the spread of enquiries as users discover the breadth of the Centre's research which extends far beyond motor vehicle safety.

Consumer reports, sports hazards including hockey, cricket and netball, as well as the elderly and mobility all featured prominently in site enquiries.

Recent initiatives including the downloadable Going Solo brochure for parents of P-plate drivers, the report on car colour and annual crashworthiness test results, as well as the Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit's findings on unintentional injury in Victorian children aged 0-14 years, will ensure that MUARC's site receives major traffic during the second half of 2007.

The site has recently undergone a significant overhaul which will ensure its continued growth over the next decade.