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2011 Queensland Road Safety Awards winners
On Friday 14 October, the 2011 Queensland Road Safety Awards ceremony was held at Parliament House. Awards were presented by Transport Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk. Read the Ministerial Media Statement 
.
Community
Winner: Hypodrive — Sharon WhitchurchHighly Commended: Ripples – the Marcus McDonald Story DVD — Marcus MacDonald Charity
Fleet/Occupational Safety
Winner: Blue Care Fleet Safety Program — Blue CareHighly Commended: A collaborative approach to safer work related road safety system within Council — Redland City Council
Highly Commended: Zero Tolerance — Troncs Transport Solutions
Industry and Business
Winner: SleepRisk Solutions — SleepRisk SolutionsHighly Commended: Take 5 before you drive road safety initiative — Rio Tinto
Innovation
Commended: Emergency Signal Intercepting Device — NFA InnovationsLocal Government
Winner: Safer School Travel Program — Kerrie Doherty, Moreton Bay Regional CouncilSchools
Winner: Woree Bike Ed & Road Safety Program — Ian Mason, Woree State SchoolWinner: Barkly Highway State School SafeST Committee — Janelle Stewart–Russell
State Government
Winner: Road Safety and Learners Program — Barrier Reef Institute of TAFEHighly Commended: Project RAPTAR — Sgt Michael Musumeci, Queensland Police Service
Queensland Road Safety Outstanding Achievement Award
Winner: Road Safety and Learners Program — Barrier Reef Institute of TAFERecognition and Achievement Award for Ongoing Work in Road Safety
Mackay Road Accident Action GroupCommendation for Recent Work in Road Safety
Adrian Plahn
Queensland Road Safety Award — Community
Winner: Hypodrive — Sharon Whitchurch
Hypodrive is a national education awareness program aimed at diabetic drivers. It has come about because of my car accident caused by a diabetic driver, who ignored his warning signs of the impending hypoglycemic episode. Even though this program is aimed at diabetic drivers, it is also useful for anyone who suffers from any medical condition, along with their family and friends.
Hypodrive aims to educate all diabetic drivers and their families on the dangers that exist while driving on our roads. By alerting diabetics to be able to understand what the hypoglycemic symptoms are and how to avoid them. In particularly what must be done prior to starting the car and how to get off the road safely and how to treat a hypo on the road side. This program is beneficial, because it is very much needed and Sharon has spoken to many diabetics that have all said they are very grateful for this information Sharon is now providing. The long term benefits of Hypodrive is that it will reduce the road toll and also the cost factor associated with accidents, whether on our roads or workplaces.
Hypodrive is a non–profit national educational awareness program aimed at educating diabetic drivers and their loved ones about the dangers of driving while suffering from a hypoglycemic or hyperglycemia episode.
For more information about Hypodrive visit http://www.hypodrive.com.au .
Queensland Road Safety Award — Community
Highly Commended: Ripples – the Marcus McDonald Story DVD — Marcus MacDonald Charity
“Ripples – The Marcus MacDonald Story”. Our 19 year old son was a back seat passenger in a car with 4 other boys travelling to their Grand final in Toowoomba. The driver was travelling at 150km an hour, blew a tyre, lost control, rolled, hit a tree and the car burst into flames — what should have been a day of celebration became a day of mourning. Our son, Marcus, and friend Jamie were killed in the crash.
Our aim is to show our DVD to all year 12 students in Queensland initially, then expanding to nationally in the future. Our message is to show the “ripple effect” on family, friends and community when tragedy such as this affects you. Emphasise areas of loss, grief, responsibility and that decisions can lead to tragedy often come from bad choices made when behind the wheel. We want to give ‘drivers a choice and passengers a voice’. Remind that a licence is a privilege not a right and that it is not your right to decide if your friend lives or dies today. Our story has real messages for young drivers, told by real people (not actors), parents, sibling, friends, teachers, employers who were affected on that day.
We stress the fatal four and how to keep them out of their driving style. Drivers young and old can relate to our story as everyone has someone in their life, if they were killed in a car crash or traffic related incident would be dramatically affected.
Queensland Road Safety Award — Fleet/Occupational Safety
Winner: Blue Care Fleet Safety Program — Blue Care
Prior to 2008 Blue Care did not provide coordinated staff education programs in road safety or have a risk analysis process in place to identify poor driving and potential driver or vehicle risks. From the day Blue Care commenced operations until 2005 there was very little data that could have been used to analyse and determine where risks existed in order to put in place risk mitigation interventions.
The data that was available indicated a high number of at fault crashes. The move to smaller cars between 2005 and 2006 went some way to reducing the number of crashes especially reversing crashes Blue Care recognised that a range of indicators including high incidents of traffic infringements, at fault accidents and the poor condition of vehicles returned for sale that they would be failing in their duty of care to not develop and implement a range of road safety initiatives for all Blue Care staff. The aim of the program was to achieve a desired level of best practice in fleet safety and instil a culture of road and vehicle safety within the fleet drivers and all Blue Care staff.
To achieve these aims Blue Care developed a program that included visual resources, training programs supported by policies and procedures. The outcome of this program has seen significant reductions in the number and costs of crashes and infringements (see attached papers) which has not only reduced the number of accidents but also the number and associated costs of work cover claims.
Queensland Road Safety Award — Fleet/Occupational Safety
Highly Commended: A collaborative approach to safer work related road safety system within Council — Redland City Council
In recent years Redland City Council fleet department have developed and implemented a wide range of work related road safety interventions incorporating a multi pronged approach to improve driving safety in their organisation and the Redland community. In developing this initiative Redland City Council has undertaken a collaborative approach utilising external agencies and internal departments to improve their overall fleet safety systems. Prior to this approach Redland City Council did not even have a policy relating to safety and vehicle use within the work setting.
Furthermore, crashes involving fleet vehicles were not recorded, nor were any processes in place to identify or manage any work related driving risks. The development and implementation of such a wide range of initiatives has resulted in substantial reductions in crashes and vehicle repair costs, along with continuous improvements in staff morale, management and employee commitment and work related driving safety systems.
Finally, as testament to the applicability and scope of such initiatives, Redland City Council has willingly and freely shared these resources with other similar organisations and the greater Redland community.
Queensland Road Safety Award — Fleet/Occupational Safety
Highly Commended: Zero Tolerance — Troncs Transport Solutions
The process identifies a set procedure to discipline drivers who drive company vehicles in excess of the regulated speed limit. A demerit point (DP) process is used to measure speeding infringements committed by each driver. These infringements are identified by the ‘Satellite Tracking Systems’ fitted to all fleet vehicles. Each driver has access to 12 DP’s over a 6 month period which is are also renewed over a rolling 6 month period.
At the start of each month, points will drop off and be added to the DP total as or if required. This process commenced on 17th August 2009. DP’s are allocated based on speed infringements in any given shift. DP’s are allocated as follows:
- ‘Minor Breach’ 101km — 104km — Constant offenders will be spoken to by their Manager who has the right to fine the driver 1 DP if they consistently offend.
- ‘Major Breach’ 105km — 110km ( maximum of 1 breach/shift) — 1 DP.
- ‘Serious Breach’ 111km and above (maximum of 1 breach/shift ) — 2 DPs. Each breach is to be acknowledged by Managers speaking to the Driver and particulars being recorded on the Speed Report.
Managers must keep these Speed Reports as a record. All Breaches will be recorded separately by CEO to verify the status of each Driver.
The Counselling/Discipline procedure occurs at the following critical levels within the DP system:
- 10 DP’s — Written Warning
- 11 DP’s — Written Warning
- 12 DP’s — Final Warning
- 13 DP’s — Dismissal
- Controls: 1. CEO to review speeding reports weekly & ensure branch managers have issued appropriate counselling and warnings.
Queensland Road Safety Award — Industry and Business
Winner: SleepRisk Solutions — SleepRisk Solutions
Untreated sleep disorders are a hidden killer for the Australian road transport industry. Studies show that drivers with sleep apnoea are up to 7 times more likely to have repeated crashes. However, those who can be diagnosed and treated are considered safe to drive.
Up until recently the diagnostic and treatment process has been disjointed and lengthy, giving commercial drivers and associated workers little reassurance of a speedy industry streamlined process. SleepRisk Solutions is the first national provider of sleep disorders management services for industry.
The process is uniquely streamlined, portable and scalable, which enables us to travel anywhere and keep drivers working safely without significant downtime. All processes are confidential, and allow ongoing compliance and assurance reporting. After three years of research, including work with some of Australia's top sleep disorders specialists, SleepRisk Solutions have developed a simple and effective 4–step process.
Most personnel will just need to complete the first step, which is on–site screening using sleepiness scale questionnaire and screening device because only individuals with a higher risk of sleep disorders will need to continue to the next step.
Companies undertaking our program are likely to see multiple benefits such as reduced accidents and associated costs, reduced insurance premiums, increased staff retention and reduced sick leave. For drivers, we are able to answer all of the difficult questions and provide treatment quickly and effectively, with no need for time away from work.
For more information about SleepRisk Solutions visit http://www.sleeprisk.com.au .
Queensland Road Safety Award — Industry and Business
Highly Commended: Take 5 before you drive road safety initiative — Rio Tinto
Within Rio Tinto vehicle and driving incidents present the greatest ‘significant potential risk’ to our 77,000 employees across 40 countries. With many of our mine sites implementing road safety initiatives tailored to their conditions, the Take 5 before you drive initiative was launched to raise awareness amongst our 12,000 office–based employees. In a different approach to previous campaigns, this initiative runs for all of 2011. It features a unique road safety focus each month, including fatigue, cars, public transport, cyclists and pedestrians.
Take 5 before you drive aims to:
- Increase awareness on multiple aspects of road safety
- Reduce vehicle and driving related incidents
- Provide globally applicable messages that allow for local tailoring
- Be accessible by employees regardless of location
- Provide easily absorbed messages for the busy professional
- Push the message home to share with family and friends. The monthly road safety messages are disseminated via a unique and innovative variety of media, aimed to give maximum global exposure and enable multiple languages.
This approach includes:
- 24/7 virtual road safety expo with booths from selected suppliers and key road safety organisations
- Launching a calendar artwork competition for employees’ young relatives
- Road safety pack with calendar and key ring
- Blog with safety shares based on actual road–based incidents
- Posters, newsletter articles, competitions and slide packs each month.
Queensland Road Safety Award — Innovation
Commended: Emergency Signal Intercepting Device — NFA Innovations
The emergency signal intercepting unit, or Pixie, as it is affectionately known by its creators and supporters is an incredibly innovative piece of technology which has the potential to prevent injury and save lives at rail level crossings. The product was created by local Townsville company NFA Innovations and has great support from industry, unions, locals, as well as rail safety authorities in Victoria.
Basically, the Pixie is a device which is fitted to a vehicle and provides an audible warning to motorists through their radio or CD player, regardless of whether it is turned on or off at the time of an approaching train to a rail crossing. A signal is sent from another transmitting type of unit which is fitted to existing infrastructure at level crossing sites.
There is a push from the device inventors, as well as from Queensland's Rail, Tram and Bus Union and Transport Workers Union to see these devices rolled out across the state. The implementation of such an initiative would go a long way towards addressing serious safety concerns at level crossings.
Queensland Road Safety Award — Local Government
Winner: Safer School Travel Program — Kerrie Doherty, Moreton Bay Regional Council
With continual increase in number of children being driven to school, traffic and parking problems are significant issues for many schools and the Council.
Everyday parents and caregivers compete for limited parking spaces around schools during pick up and drop off times whilst not realising that their actions impact on the safety of all children travelling to and from school including their own.
The 'Safer School Travel Program' is a behaviour change program that aims to address traffic related issues around schools during peak times through an educational and awareness approach. It is a practical and cost efficient program that involves the whole school community with the view of achieving greater awareness of the behavioural problems that contribute to reduced safety around schools.
The program is a partnership project between Moreton Bay Regional Council (MBRC), Transport and Main Roads (TMR) and Queensland Police Service (QPS). It has been operational across the Moreton Bay Region for 18 months and is currently being remodelled to ensure long term sustainable behaviour change. The program works closely with schools incorporating an evaluation component which is used to strengthen the quality of the program and to measure and improve set outcomes.
Queensland Road Safety Award — Schools
Winner: Woree Bike Ed & Road Safety Program — Ian Mason, Woree State School
We have implemented a bike education and road safety program for years 3 to 7 at Woree State Primary School. It is conducted on our specially constructed bike track which is asphalted and has an intersection controlled by solar powered traffic lights, a railway crossing and lights, a roundabout, pedestrian crossing and various other intersections, signage (Stop, Give Way, Railway Crossing etc), a turn only lane, unsealed section and a bridge. It has also been professionally line marked.
We designed the facility and program to be as realistic as possible to enable children to experience bike riding and practice their skills in a safe, rewarding environment; to give them the knowledge and understanding of the road traffic environment and its laws. It will help in the development of the physical and cognitive skills required to manage such an environment. By developing responsible behaviours, attitudes and decision making skills when using their bicycles we believe we will be laying the foundation for responsible road use for life. We hope that this will also assist in the lowering of our future road toll.
The program is firmly embedded in our school's curriculum from years 3 to 7 as well as our Special Education Program. By helping the children become more confident bike riders, more of them will be likely to ride their bikes to school on a daily basis. Our environment will also benefit through less traffic congestion and fewer emissions resulting in cleaner air.
Queensland Road Safety Award — Schools
Winner: Barkly Highway State School SafeST Committee — Janelle Stewart–Russell
The development and formation of the Barkly Highway State School SafeST Committee came about from many reported near misses over a number of years involving students and parents of the school as they travelled to and from school each day. In order to action any improvements in safe travel to and from our school, the formation of a SafeST committee was paramount. This idea was brought before our P & C Association and a number of parents and staff of the school as well as community and government agencies nominated to be a part of the committee. The aims of the committee were simply to identify risks involved in travel to and from our school each day, and by creating partnerships, identify ways in which these risks could be minimised for the benefit of staff, students and families of Barkly Highway State School, as well as residents of the local area.
The advantage of forming the committee was that by engaging a large number of organisations as stakeholders in the initiative, we could tap into the various resources available to the school to action change for the improvement of student travel to and from school. The two most important responsibilities of the committee were to help develop the students' ability to deal with traffic, and to ensure that the students' exposure to traffic was as risk free as possible. The committee has been so successful because of its ongoing and relentless pursuit of its aims, objectives and responsibilities.
Queensland Road Safety Award — State Government
Winner: Road Safety and Learners Program — Barrier Reef Institute of TAFE
Whilst working on Palm Island as a Language Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) teacher for TAFE, I identified that Indigenous people had an extremely high incarceration rate for offences relating to driving without a licence. Queensland Health statistics also showed this group were involved in more road crashes as unlicensed drivers. I decided to run a road safety program targeting the road safety aspects of driving, tailored to specifically assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to obtain their learners permit, preferably at the first attempt. Because I was working predominantly with clients who had LLN issues the learning materials were contextualised to the local community and presented in both visual and oral formats.
This required some consultation and negotiation with both Transport and Main Roads (TMR) and Queensland Police Service (QPS) as the idea was to set up a ‘one stop shop’. Here students would be exposed to an education and learning environment where they would identify road safety issues and be able to sit the Queensland road rules test in a safe, comfortable and supported environment, gaining a sound awareness of the major road safety issues. I developed a new resource after obtaining copyright from TMR. This resource consisted of a PowerPoint slide show; presented face to face, supported with videos, flash files of moving cars, model cars and real life environment. I contextualised the resource with photos in real life situations (situated learning) and continue to include local photos at each different training location. Benefits to date have been a 98% success rate for clients in passing their learners permit the first time they take the test.
Queensland Road Safety Award — State Government
Highly Commended: Project RAPTAR — Sgt Michael Musumeci, Queensland Police Service
Project RAPTAR has been beneficial to the community adressing numerous and extensive road safety concerns and issues. RAPTAR has decreased serious road trauma, adressed seruous road safety concerns, educate change to education road users and instigated positive road safety initiaitves throughout the Ravenshoe area.
RAPTAR has succesfully achieved a multi–agency community approach in addressing localised issues, at a local level.
Queensland Road Safety Outstanding Achievement Award
Winner: Road Safety and Learners Program — Barrier Reef Institute of TAFE
Recognition and Achievement Award for Ongoing Work in Road Safety
Mackay Road Accident Action Group
For a number of years now, the Mackay road accident action group has been involved in community road safety projects around their region focusing on the Bruce Highway between Proserpine and St Lawrence, the Peak Downs Highway and associated western arterial roads.
RAAG is a group of individuals from state government, industry, community, and local government who by taking a holistic approach across the community in dealing with factors relating to road crashes, have successfully developed and implemented programs which have been effective in reducing incidents of road trauma.
Commendation for Recent Work in Road Safety
Adrian Plahn
As a member of the Queensland fire service, Adrian Plahn has seen more than his fair share of road trauma. As a resident of the Moranbah region, he also knows one of the contributing factors to crashes in his area is fatigue.
To address both these issues, Adrian developed a fatigue awareness campaign incorporating a 72 hour continuous broadcast by himself on local radio, featuring interviews with relevant experts and medical professionals, as well as being continually monitored for his own health and safety. Adrian's campaign demonstrated to his listeners the reduction in function, capacity and cognition that occurs due to fatigue.
Attracting state and national media interest, Adrian's campaign also received attention from media outlets overseas and encouraged Adrian to continue his road safety work by developing a second campaign targeting the fatal five.
For further information on the Queensland Road Safety Awards please contact the Marketing and Events Officer on 07 3138 4568 or email marketing.carrsq@qut.edu.au.
