The Serendipity of Road Safety Planning

Abstract

With road fatalities and trauma increasing, road safety authority technical staff are under pressure to address this increase through infrastructure and services. Intuitively we know that each and every one of us has a role to play in road safety. But what is it? Councils in Queensland typically address road safety through their involvement with State Government agencies as well as various ad hoc local responses presuming all civil road design is undertaken using best practice with a high level of safety. But is civil design and ad hoc responses enough? A road safety strategic plan provides a framework for the development of road safety strategy and actions plans with a role in the co-ordination and delivery of community based road safety programs. So why don’t all local government authorities have such a plan? These questions are the basis of this paper and the journey taken by the author to pilot the introduction of a Road Safety Officer into his organisation and the development of a Road Safety Strategy and Action Plan (RSSAP) for the Moreton Bay Regional Council in a Road Safety Pilot (RSP) project.

The Roads Alliance Team (Main Roads and LGAQ) had identified an opportunity to assist Councils to develop a coordinated approach to road safety. Serendipitously, Pine Rivers Shire Council was developing a RSSAP and during the first stages of stakeholder consultation the Roads Alliance progress was revealed which led to an amalgamation of the two trains of thought. The MBCC RSSAP will involve temporary employment of a Road Safety Officer who will work on the plans development. It is hoped that learnings that arise from the pilot will be used to refine the RSSAP prior to further pilots or a state-wide rollout to develop appropriate road trauma reduction strategies and actions at the local level.