The Journal of the Australasian College of Road Safety, 2016
The Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) is a global fund hosted by the World Bank that is designed... more The Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) is a global fund hosted by the World Bank that is designed to build the managerial and operational capacity of low and middle income countries in order to improve efficiency and scale up road safety efforts. Its goals are aligned with the UN Decade of Action 2011-2020, as well as the new UN road safety targets under the Sustainable Development Goals. Language: en
The Journal of the Australasian College of Road Safety, 2013
Indigenous Australians are substantially more likely than the non-Indigenous population to be kil... more Indigenous Australians are substantially more likely than the non-Indigenous population to be killed or seriously injured in a road crash and much more likely to receive a custodial sentence for unlicensed driving. A number of projects in Australia have been designed to address these issues. The "DriveSafe NT Remote" Project makes advances on previous projects by providing an 'on-site' opportunity for Indigenous people to obtain a licence, by bringing a driver trainer and full Motor Vehicle Registry services to remote communities. The two-year trial program provides help with proof of identity, training, and licence testing. This paper describes the program, its implementation, the logic behind the expectation of road safety gains, and early results. Process analysis shows that a large proportion of clients needed help with proof of identity, which is challenging for many Indigenous people. Interest within Indigenous communities has exceeded all expectations and 318 learner licences have been issued in less than a year of operation, passing the target of 280 licences that was set for the first two years of the program, while 67 drivers have moved from learner to provisional status or have advanced to public passenger vehicle licences. The DriveSafe NT Remote team has also issued another 125 licences outside of the project scope while in communities, including renewals and upgrades. They have also delivered training on Motor Vehicle Registry processes for many community members including local police officers, local government officers and teachers. The program has also generated flow-on benefits including increasing employment and social opportunities in remote communities.
This paper examines casualty crashes occurring on NSW local council managed roads between 2004 an... more This paper examines casualty crashes occurring on NSW local council managed roads between 2004 and 2009, and identifies several roads worthy of further review based on a relatively high casualty crash history. Some of these roads are from outer metropolitan Sydney areas, and may be of increasing concern as they become more popular thoroughfares consistent with increasing population growth. Speed appears to be a key factor for some of these local roads, particularly those in country and semi -rural areas, where there tends to be fewer vehicles and lower levels of enforcement of road rules (and so drivers may be more willing to engage in risk-taking behaviours on these roads). This paper raises several key issues relevant to the management of local roads. In particular, management of road safety is complicated by distinctions between the 'legal' versus 'administrative' classification of a road. Greater consistency regarding road classifications would allow for more effective management of local roads, and would help to curb casualties on these roads. Solutions in terms of application of the highly successful NSW Multidisciplinary Road Safety Reviews are also considered.
The cost of road trauma is inequitably borne by the NSW Aboriginal community. Aboriginal people a... more The cost of road trauma is inequitably borne by the NSW Aboriginal community. Aboriginal people are 3.4 times more likely to die in a transport related crash than non-Aboriginal people. It can also be argued that as Aboriginal communities are characterised by strong family connections, the personal cost of road trauma and resulting community impact is even greater.
The New South Wales Government has identified road safety as one of its key state plan priorities... more The New South Wales Government has identified road safety as one of its key state plan priorities, with the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) the lead agency for the delivery of road safety. The RTA's approach to meeting the road safety challenge includes the adoption of the safe systems approach to road safety. The safe system approach is a guiding philosophy which acknowledges that the design of vehicles, the road and road environments and speed limits must be based on human limitations including tolerances to physical force. This philosophy was developed in Europe where it is implemented through their national strategic plans such as Vision Zero in Sweden or Sustainable Safety in the Netherlands. The key elements of a safe system are safer roads and road sides, safer travel speeds and safer vehicles. This approach to road safety emphasises the way different elements of the road transport system combine and interact with human behaviour to produce an overall effect on road trauma.
A large number of variables in addition to noise correlate with community reaction, yet to date v... more A large number of variables in addition to noise correlate with community reaction, yet to date virtually the only method used to reduce reaction is to reduce noise exposure. It is suggested that this obvious and effective countermeasure may be supplemented with additional measures. Modifying variables may be manipulated to reduce reaction if they meet three criteria: the variable must have a sufficiently strong relationship with reaction to be of practical value; the variable must be a causal factor in reaction (or turn out to be part of reaction); and the variable must be potentially manipulable. Available data suggest that a number of modifying variables may meet these criteria (attitude, reduction in rates, direct sight of the noise source, and fear of crashes). It is suggested that research is needed to establish with greater confidence the direction of causality and the impact of modifying variables on reaction. In particular, the manipulation of modifying variables in order to reduce reaction (either alone or in combination with noise reduction) deserves direct testing.
The aim of this multi-level modeling study was to examine the effect of chronic exposure to aircr... more The aim of this multi-level modeling study was to examine the effect of chronic exposure to aircraft noise on a range of school performance outcomes in Mathematics, English (reading, creative writing, spelling and handwriting) and Science in 11 year old children in schools exposed to a range of 8 aircraft noise exposure levels. British National Standardised Scores (SATS) for Key Stage 2 were analysed in relation to aircraft noise exposure around Heathrow Airport in West London for 11,000 scores of children aged 11 from 128 schools. The analyses were carried out at both the school and individual level, with adjustment made for socio-economic and school quality factors. The results suggest that chronic exposure to aircraft noise is associated with decrements in school performance in reading and mathematics after adjustment for school effects, but that this association is influenced by socio-economic factors. For the covering abstract see ITRD E107776.
Off to the Right and Head On Not Overtaking crashes are the most severe crashes on the NSW road n... more Off to the Right and Head On Not Overtaking crashes are the most severe crashes on the NSW road network and indeed around Australian. Yet on most undivided two lane high speed rural roads, opposing traffic flows are separated by narrow painted white centre or barrier lines. For many years wide shoulders and clear zones have been shown to greatly reduce serious crashes into objects off the road. However, except for a few cases on the Pacific and New England Highways, little has been done to apply alternative options for increasing separation of opposing flows on undivided roads. Countermeasures that separate opposing streams of traffic on some undivided lengths of the Pacific and New England Highways in NSW indicate a dramatic reduction in cross-over crashes along lengths where they have been installed. This paper will quantify the safety benefits generated by the implementation of variable width painted centrelines and wire rope median barriers and their effects on both the reduction of cross-over crash occurrence as well as the reduction of cross-over crash severity. This constitutes an important step towards a safe systems approach to our most severe crash types.
Speeding is a significant contributor to the road toll. The risks associated with speeding at hig... more Speeding is a significant contributor to the road toll. The risks associated with speeding at high and low levels are well understood, as are a range of speed management programs such as speed limits and speed cameras. Speed surveys have been used to help quantify the population distribution of speeding and to evaluate the impact of road safety interventions, especially since crashes are, statistically, rare events. Crash-based evaluations necessarily take time and are subject to high levels of random variation. In contrast, speed surveys can potentially be used to demonstrate the immediate impact of road safety interventions. The results of speed surveys are available long before the associated crash data has been collected and analysed. However, the achieved changes in the distribution of vehicle speeds need to be translated into changes in the likely number and severity of crashes. The utility of speed survey data is diminished, however, through the use of crude summary statistics such as mean, 85 th percentile and percentage of drivers exceeding the speed limit. Recently D'Elia et al. (2008), Doecke et al. (2011), Gavin et al. (2010) have combined known casualty crash risk estimates with speed surveys to further our understanding of how the population level of risk of speeding can be described and evaluated through the use of speed surveys. This paper documents the development of a tool which translates speeding identified in speed surveys into a risk measure. The tool is designed to be used both with annual general network speed surveys and with speed surveys used to evaluate the impact of road safety interventions such as enforcement programs. The tool has been validated using speed survey and crash data from evaluations of the trial introduction of the 50 km/h urban speed limit, a speed limit reduction on the Great Western Highway and an evaluation of NSW fixed speed cameras.
Speed is the largest single behavioural contributor to the road toll both in Australia and global... more Speed is the largest single behavioural contributor to the road toll both in Australia and globally. While the community accepts that high level speeding (say 30+ km/h over the speed limit) is dangerous, there is more acceptance of low level speeding (say within 10 km/h of the speed limit) and considerable debate about the risk it poses. Broadly, the debate has not had an objective base. Objective evidence can be reconstructed. Explicitly, data on the increasing risk of a serious crash for each increment of speeding can be combined with objective on road surveys of actual speeding behaviour. The direct multiplication of the increased risk for each 5 km/h above the speed limit by the number of drivers speeding by that amount reveals the total risk in each category. We conducted this analysis using speed surveys from every speed limit in NSW, and several studies of relative risk of speeding. Kloeden et al.'s studies of speeding and crash risk in urban and rural environments and the Nilsson Power Model were used as the basis for determining the contribution of low and high level speeding to road related fatalities and injuries. These analyses reveal that despite the much lower risk per driver, the large number of drivers speeding at low levels makes this category of speeding a major road safety problem. Results are discussed with regards to public attitudes to speeding and implications for policies aimed at reducing the involvement of speeding in the road toll.
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, Dec 1, 1991
A noteworthy feature of studies of SALT and suggestopedia is inconsistent results. Both theory an... more A noteworthy feature of studies of SALT and suggestopedia is inconsistent results. Both theory and evidence suggest that these techniques may be beneficial to high anxiety learners learning a difficult task but detrimental to low anxiety learners on an easy task. This mix of results may account for many of the inconsistent results in the literature. Thus the role of anxiety is of considerable importance because it may provide an account of damaging inconsistencies and because it may indicate appropriate areas of application. Therefore the present study examined the impact of SALT techniques on the learning of high and low anxiety learners, given both an easy and a difficult task. The results did not support the main hypothesis: overall the SALT techniques produced results which were inferior to conventional learning techniques. Further, SALT techniques were not superior at any level of anxiety or task difficulty. Thus, the present study confirmed the common failure to find SALT techniques superior to conventional learning. Disadvantages of the SALT techniques were identified and suggested that the method may do better with considerably more learner familiarity with the method.
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, Dec 1, 1991
Suggestopedia and SALT techniques are being applied in the adult education, business training and... more Suggestopedia and SALT techniques are being applied in the adult education, business training and consulting spheres. However, a review of the relevant literature reveals doubtful support. Evaluative studies are often methodologically flawed, and the results are often inconsistent. Overall, the results do not justify the claims made about the systems. However, factors such as subject anxiety and duration of the study may explain some inconsistencies.
The Journal of the Australasian College of Road Safety, 2016
The Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) is a global fund hosted by the World Bank that is designed... more The Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) is a global fund hosted by the World Bank that is designed to build the managerial and operational capacity of low and middle income countries in order to improve efficiency and scale up road safety efforts. Its goals are aligned with the UN Decade of Action 2011-2020, as well as the new UN road safety targets under the Sustainable Development Goals. Language: en
The Journal of the Australasian College of Road Safety, 2013
Indigenous Australians are substantially more likely than the non-Indigenous population to be kil... more Indigenous Australians are substantially more likely than the non-Indigenous population to be killed or seriously injured in a road crash and much more likely to receive a custodial sentence for unlicensed driving. A number of projects in Australia have been designed to address these issues. The "DriveSafe NT Remote" Project makes advances on previous projects by providing an 'on-site' opportunity for Indigenous people to obtain a licence, by bringing a driver trainer and full Motor Vehicle Registry services to remote communities. The two-year trial program provides help with proof of identity, training, and licence testing. This paper describes the program, its implementation, the logic behind the expectation of road safety gains, and early results. Process analysis shows that a large proportion of clients needed help with proof of identity, which is challenging for many Indigenous people. Interest within Indigenous communities has exceeded all expectations and 318 learner licences have been issued in less than a year of operation, passing the target of 280 licences that was set for the first two years of the program, while 67 drivers have moved from learner to provisional status or have advanced to public passenger vehicle licences. The DriveSafe NT Remote team has also issued another 125 licences outside of the project scope while in communities, including renewals and upgrades. They have also delivered training on Motor Vehicle Registry processes for many community members including local police officers, local government officers and teachers. The program has also generated flow-on benefits including increasing employment and social opportunities in remote communities.
This paper examines casualty crashes occurring on NSW local council managed roads between 2004 an... more This paper examines casualty crashes occurring on NSW local council managed roads between 2004 and 2009, and identifies several roads worthy of further review based on a relatively high casualty crash history. Some of these roads are from outer metropolitan Sydney areas, and may be of increasing concern as they become more popular thoroughfares consistent with increasing population growth. Speed appears to be a key factor for some of these local roads, particularly those in country and semi -rural areas, where there tends to be fewer vehicles and lower levels of enforcement of road rules (and so drivers may be more willing to engage in risk-taking behaviours on these roads). This paper raises several key issues relevant to the management of local roads. In particular, management of road safety is complicated by distinctions between the 'legal' versus 'administrative' classification of a road. Greater consistency regarding road classifications would allow for more effective management of local roads, and would help to curb casualties on these roads. Solutions in terms of application of the highly successful NSW Multidisciplinary Road Safety Reviews are also considered.
The cost of road trauma is inequitably borne by the NSW Aboriginal community. Aboriginal people a... more The cost of road trauma is inequitably borne by the NSW Aboriginal community. Aboriginal people are 3.4 times more likely to die in a transport related crash than non-Aboriginal people. It can also be argued that as Aboriginal communities are characterised by strong family connections, the personal cost of road trauma and resulting community impact is even greater.
The New South Wales Government has identified road safety as one of its key state plan priorities... more The New South Wales Government has identified road safety as one of its key state plan priorities, with the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) the lead agency for the delivery of road safety. The RTA's approach to meeting the road safety challenge includes the adoption of the safe systems approach to road safety. The safe system approach is a guiding philosophy which acknowledges that the design of vehicles, the road and road environments and speed limits must be based on human limitations including tolerances to physical force. This philosophy was developed in Europe where it is implemented through their national strategic plans such as Vision Zero in Sweden or Sustainable Safety in the Netherlands. The key elements of a safe system are safer roads and road sides, safer travel speeds and safer vehicles. This approach to road safety emphasises the way different elements of the road transport system combine and interact with human behaviour to produce an overall effect on road trauma.
A large number of variables in addition to noise correlate with community reaction, yet to date v... more A large number of variables in addition to noise correlate with community reaction, yet to date virtually the only method used to reduce reaction is to reduce noise exposure. It is suggested that this obvious and effective countermeasure may be supplemented with additional measures. Modifying variables may be manipulated to reduce reaction if they meet three criteria: the variable must have a sufficiently strong relationship with reaction to be of practical value; the variable must be a causal factor in reaction (or turn out to be part of reaction); and the variable must be potentially manipulable. Available data suggest that a number of modifying variables may meet these criteria (attitude, reduction in rates, direct sight of the noise source, and fear of crashes). It is suggested that research is needed to establish with greater confidence the direction of causality and the impact of modifying variables on reaction. In particular, the manipulation of modifying variables in order to reduce reaction (either alone or in combination with noise reduction) deserves direct testing.
The aim of this multi-level modeling study was to examine the effect of chronic exposure to aircr... more The aim of this multi-level modeling study was to examine the effect of chronic exposure to aircraft noise on a range of school performance outcomes in Mathematics, English (reading, creative writing, spelling and handwriting) and Science in 11 year old children in schools exposed to a range of 8 aircraft noise exposure levels. British National Standardised Scores (SATS) for Key Stage 2 were analysed in relation to aircraft noise exposure around Heathrow Airport in West London for 11,000 scores of children aged 11 from 128 schools. The analyses were carried out at both the school and individual level, with adjustment made for socio-economic and school quality factors. The results suggest that chronic exposure to aircraft noise is associated with decrements in school performance in reading and mathematics after adjustment for school effects, but that this association is influenced by socio-economic factors. For the covering abstract see ITRD E107776.
Off to the Right and Head On Not Overtaking crashes are the most severe crashes on the NSW road n... more Off to the Right and Head On Not Overtaking crashes are the most severe crashes on the NSW road network and indeed around Australian. Yet on most undivided two lane high speed rural roads, opposing traffic flows are separated by narrow painted white centre or barrier lines. For many years wide shoulders and clear zones have been shown to greatly reduce serious crashes into objects off the road. However, except for a few cases on the Pacific and New England Highways, little has been done to apply alternative options for increasing separation of opposing flows on undivided roads. Countermeasures that separate opposing streams of traffic on some undivided lengths of the Pacific and New England Highways in NSW indicate a dramatic reduction in cross-over crashes along lengths where they have been installed. This paper will quantify the safety benefits generated by the implementation of variable width painted centrelines and wire rope median barriers and their effects on both the reduction of cross-over crash occurrence as well as the reduction of cross-over crash severity. This constitutes an important step towards a safe systems approach to our most severe crash types.
Speeding is a significant contributor to the road toll. The risks associated with speeding at hig... more Speeding is a significant contributor to the road toll. The risks associated with speeding at high and low levels are well understood, as are a range of speed management programs such as speed limits and speed cameras. Speed surveys have been used to help quantify the population distribution of speeding and to evaluate the impact of road safety interventions, especially since crashes are, statistically, rare events. Crash-based evaluations necessarily take time and are subject to high levels of random variation. In contrast, speed surveys can potentially be used to demonstrate the immediate impact of road safety interventions. The results of speed surveys are available long before the associated crash data has been collected and analysed. However, the achieved changes in the distribution of vehicle speeds need to be translated into changes in the likely number and severity of crashes. The utility of speed survey data is diminished, however, through the use of crude summary statistics such as mean, 85 th percentile and percentage of drivers exceeding the speed limit. Recently D'Elia et al. (2008), Doecke et al. (2011), Gavin et al. (2010) have combined known casualty crash risk estimates with speed surveys to further our understanding of how the population level of risk of speeding can be described and evaluated through the use of speed surveys. This paper documents the development of a tool which translates speeding identified in speed surveys into a risk measure. The tool is designed to be used both with annual general network speed surveys and with speed surveys used to evaluate the impact of road safety interventions such as enforcement programs. The tool has been validated using speed survey and crash data from evaluations of the trial introduction of the 50 km/h urban speed limit, a speed limit reduction on the Great Western Highway and an evaluation of NSW fixed speed cameras.
Speed is the largest single behavioural contributor to the road toll both in Australia and global... more Speed is the largest single behavioural contributor to the road toll both in Australia and globally. While the community accepts that high level speeding (say 30+ km/h over the speed limit) is dangerous, there is more acceptance of low level speeding (say within 10 km/h of the speed limit) and considerable debate about the risk it poses. Broadly, the debate has not had an objective base. Objective evidence can be reconstructed. Explicitly, data on the increasing risk of a serious crash for each increment of speeding can be combined with objective on road surveys of actual speeding behaviour. The direct multiplication of the increased risk for each 5 km/h above the speed limit by the number of drivers speeding by that amount reveals the total risk in each category. We conducted this analysis using speed surveys from every speed limit in NSW, and several studies of relative risk of speeding. Kloeden et al.'s studies of speeding and crash risk in urban and rural environments and the Nilsson Power Model were used as the basis for determining the contribution of low and high level speeding to road related fatalities and injuries. These analyses reveal that despite the much lower risk per driver, the large number of drivers speeding at low levels makes this category of speeding a major road safety problem. Results are discussed with regards to public attitudes to speeding and implications for policies aimed at reducing the involvement of speeding in the road toll.
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, Dec 1, 1991
A noteworthy feature of studies of SALT and suggestopedia is inconsistent results. Both theory an... more A noteworthy feature of studies of SALT and suggestopedia is inconsistent results. Both theory and evidence suggest that these techniques may be beneficial to high anxiety learners learning a difficult task but detrimental to low anxiety learners on an easy task. This mix of results may account for many of the inconsistent results in the literature. Thus the role of anxiety is of considerable importance because it may provide an account of damaging inconsistencies and because it may indicate appropriate areas of application. Therefore the present study examined the impact of SALT techniques on the learning of high and low anxiety learners, given both an easy and a difficult task. The results did not support the main hypothesis: overall the SALT techniques produced results which were inferior to conventional learning techniques. Further, SALT techniques were not superior at any level of anxiety or task difficulty. Thus, the present study confirmed the common failure to find SALT techniques superior to conventional learning. Disadvantages of the SALT techniques were identified and suggested that the method may do better with considerably more learner familiarity with the method.
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, Dec 1, 1991
Suggestopedia and SALT techniques are being applied in the adult education, business training and... more Suggestopedia and SALT techniques are being applied in the adult education, business training and consulting spheres. However, a review of the relevant literature reveals doubtful support. Evaluative studies are often methodologically flawed, and the results are often inconsistent. Overall, the results do not justify the claims made about the systems. However, factors such as subject anxiety and duration of the study may explain some inconsistencies.
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Papers by Raymond Job