Keeping your mob safe - RSC · Safe cars are less likely to crash because they have added features to help prevent crashes. An example is Electronic Stability Control which helps

Keeping your mob safeA Guide to making Roads Safer

In Your Community

You are more likely to be killed on roads in remote and regional Western Australia. In some regions you are over 40 times more likely to die on the roads than in metropolitan Perth. Indigenous Australians are 3 times more likely to die on the roads. While injury on our roads has been decreasing, it has not been the same for Indigenous Australians.

But it is not something that we have to accept. There are plenty of strategies at a community level that can help to reduce the gap. Everyone has a role to play in reducing the harm on our roads. This guide will help you make the roads in your community safer for your mob. It tells you how to do this by setting up what is called a ‘safe system’.

The information in this guide follows the process from a successful ‘safe system’ project with the Bidyadanga community in Western Australia. You can find more details about the Bidyadanga project at the end of this guide.

Safe System

Everybody makes mistakes on the roads, no matter how good a driver, rider or pedestrian they are. We all have limits to how much we can see and do at the same time. The idea behind a safe system is not to blame anyone for this, but to look at road safety from many different angles. The aim is that lots of things are improved, so that fewer crashes happen and when they do happen people are not killed or badly hurt.

The safe system approach does this by improving road safety in four areas:

• Safe roads and footpaths: Making the roads, roadsides and the footpaths safer.

• Safe cars: Making sure cars and other vehicles are less likely to crash and can protect the people travelling in them if they do crash.

• Safe speeds: Making sure people travel at a safe speed, this includes setting the right speed limits.

• Safe road use: Improving the way people drive, walk and ride.

Introduction

So you want to make the roads in your community safer. The most important thing to do is to talk it over with your mob. Things to talk about include:

• Has there been a crash lately?

• What are people worried about on the road and footpaths?

• Is there a place on the roads that is dangerous?

• Are the kids safe as they walk to school?

• Do you think speeds are too high on some streets?

• Are people safe when they drive on tracks to go hunting, fishing or when they drive to the nearest town?

• What condition are the cars they drive?

• How could the roads be safer?

• How could cars and other vehicles be safer?

• How could speeds be safer?

• How could people behave safely?

What To Do First

Pedestrian crossing at Bidyadanga

If you have a lot of goals in your plan, you may need to work out which order to do them. You could start with the ones you think are the most urgent, or maybe the ones that seem the easiest so you can get some early ‘wins’ to gain more support for the more challenging ones. Your plans should include what funding you might need to meet your goals and where you may be able to get the money.

Once you have a plan, the community council needs to talk it over and approve it. Then you need a group of champions in the community to work on the project. Having more than one person means you can ‘share the load’. Sometimes it takes a long time to get things done, and the champions need to remind people why it is important to keep working. So keep telling everyone that by making the roads safer you take care of each other.

You also need to find champions outside your community. This could be someone from a local shire or other government agency, or a local business or research group who can provide the information you need to support your plan. They may give you information to make sure that your plan looks at real issues, or they could guide you on what will work, or they could support you to find funding. You also want to be able to show that what you end up doing has worked. So think of as many different people or groups who can support your plan and where you might find champions.

This booklet gives some ideas about projects that could make your community safer based on the Bidyadanga project butremember there are many more ideas that you might come up with.

What To Do First

If you can make the roads, roadsides and the footpaths safer, people are less likely to have crashes or to be hurt if they do have crashes.An example of improving a road to make it safer is putting in a pedestrian crossing with speed humps leading up to it. The humps make the cars slow down and makes the crossing a safe place to let people move through the community. This could let kids get to school safely or people to get to the community hall safely. You might need to get a street light put in or moved to light up a safe crossing. You could also plant small plants or hedges on the roadside to block people crossing in unsafe places.

Beware of having solid skinny trees or signs with solid poles near the road as these are not safe to crash in to. Breakaway poles will bend away if a car hits them instead of cutting into the vehicle and hurting the people inside. Another idea to improve a road could be to involve nearby farmers to improve fencing so that cattle don’t stray onto the road. Or building a barrier to stop drivers going off the road on a corner.

An important first step is to find out who is responsible for the road. A road might be controlled by the State or by the local shire, or it might be a Federal Aboriginal Lands Trust reserve which could be leased to your community. Of course, you must also think about whether there is a native title claim to the road by Traditional Owners.

Ask your local shire or the Department of Aboriginal Affairs in your State who is responsible for the road. At a whole community meeting you will also need to talk about whether there is native title on the road or nearby land. Once you have found out who is responsible for the road, you will need to talk to them about making any changes to the road. You may need to get money to do this. Ideas about where to get funding are listed at the end of this booklet.

Safe Roads and Footpaths

New speed hump at Bidyadanga community. New lighting at crosswalk.

Safe cars are less likely to crash because they have added features to help prevent crashes. An example is Electronic Stability Control which helps the car to stay on the road if the driver starts getting into a skid or rollover. Safe cars also have features to protect the driver and passenger if they do crash. For instance the latest seat belt systems, child car restraints and airbags keep you in the car and protect you in a crash.

Here are some examples of projects to encourage people to stay safe when driving in a car:

• Get child car restraints fitted and checked for safety. Most local shires will check that the child car restraints are properly fitted for free.

• You can put up signs reminding people that each person in the car should be safely using a seat belt.

Teach people to buy cars that have good crash safety ratings, encourage them to use the new car tests or the used car safety ratings tests. These ratings can be found at: www.ancap.com.au (for new cars) and www.howsafeisyourcar.com.au (for used cars) or ask your local road authority for a copy of the brochures.

Not all safe new cars are in the upper end of the market price, you can get some lower priced safe new cars.

• It might also surprise you that some older used cars are safer (and cheaper) than some of the new ones.

• You can request that vehicles bought for the community such as community buses or council cars have a good safety rating.

Safe Cars

If people are travelling at a speed that is safe for the condition of the roads they are on, they are less likely to have a serious crash that hurts them or others. Sometimes people drive too fast because they don’t know the speed limits, others just choose to speed.

Sometimes there are changes in the way roads are used or areas become built up and the existing speed limits may no longer be suitable. In these instances you could get local councils to do speed surveys to see if the speed limit should be lower. Other times speed limit signs can be infrequent, missing or damaged and it is not clear to drivers what the speed should be. Fixing this could be as simple as identifying who is responsible for the road and asking them to replace missing or damage signs.

Working with people who choose to speed is tough. One thing you can do to encourage them to slow down is to put in traffic calming devised on the community road. Road humps are one example, but there may be other road treatments that are more suited. To support changes to the road treatments you may want to ensure lane markings and speed limit signs can be clearly seen.

The speed people can safely travel can change with the climate, driving in the wet season or in extreme dry conditions will change the acceptable speed. Encourage your mob to drive to the current road conditions.

If you want to change a road to make it harder to speed you will need to get permission from whoever owns the road. Not everything you do will need funding, for example a new speed sign should be covered by the local council. However some projects will need money, there is a list of funding sources at the end of this guide.

Safe Speeds

Safe speed stickers at Bidyadanga

PLEASESLOW DOWN

CONSIDEROUR KIDS

Safe road use means getting people to walk, drive and ride in ways that are safe. An example of a safe road use project is teaching kids in the schools about crossing the roads where it is safe. Other ideas may include encouraging everyone in your community to wear reflective armbands or reflective clothing when walking at night so they can be seen by drivers. Getting people who ride bikes to wear bright clothing and have lights or reflecting tape on their bike or helmet is also helpful. This is important in day as well as night. Another example of a safe road use project is to make your own signs that can be put up in problem areas. Signs could encourage people not to speed near a local school or not drink and drive near an alcohol outlet. Make these signs bright and put them up where drivers are sure to see them and where it is safe. Remember if you need to put them on poles, make sure they are breakaway poles specially designed to collapse if crashed into.

Many of these kinds of projects don’t cost much money and they are a good way to involve the kids and older folks in making everyone safer. The more people you involve the more support you will get from your community. Ideas about where to get funding are listed at the end of this guide.

ConclusionYou can work to make your community safer by improving the safety of roads and footpaths, by encouraging people to drive, walk and ride safely, by getting people to slow down to a safe speed, and by getting people to use safe cars. There are small things as well as large things you can do to make your community safer. Some can be quick and some can take a while. There are a lot of people around who can support your plan. Hopefully the information in this booklet will help you find any support you need.

On the next few pages you will find planning work sheets. They are there to help you develop your road safety project. Take the time to fill out the work sheets, they can help you identify the problems and plan what you are going to do. Don’t work alone, get others to help you fill out the worksheets, and brainstorm each section with your people. Think as widely as possible.

Safe Road Use

Bidyadanga road safety sign

What is the problem?

Explain from your observation what the road safety problem is?

What is causing the problem?

Look around and see what may be contributing to the problem.

Planning Work Sheet:

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What do you think would make the problem safer?

Think about all the things that will help to make the place safer (e.g. removing obstacles, warning signs, education etc.).

Who can help with the research?

Think about who you need to talk to, who can check your information or facts.


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What do you need to get the job done?

Think about the people who will need to do the job, the people who could be involved and the money you may need.

How will you let your mob know about the benefits?

Think about how you will sell the idea to the community and the benefits of getting as many of your mob involved.


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Once you have brain stormed the planning sections, list the jobs that need to be done and put a name of the person responsible for the task and when they need to do it by.

Write an action plan

Job Date requiredWho will do or follow up?

How will you determine the success of your project?

List what information or statistics you need to collect to show your results (Evaluation).

Report on the success of the project

Reporting on your project may lead to more projects happening in the community. Tell as many people as possible.

Who to tell?

Reporting on the project

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What to tell them?

Include:

What you did

Your process - the journey you took to get it done

Your results - list all your successes

Your learnings - what did you learn from doing the project? What would you do the same? What would you different?

Reporting on the project

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For details on available funding sources go to the following websites and type ‘grants’ in their search feature.

Possible Funding Sources

Who’s Responsible Funding Sources Contact Details

National Attorney-General’s Departmental Grants Web: ag.gov.au/About/Grants/ Grants to State and Territory governments, local councils and Ph: 02 6141 6666 community organisations to support government priorities. Email: (via Web) ag.gov.au

National Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal Web: frrr.org.au Partnership between philanthropy, governments and business Ph: 03 5430 2399 to stimulate rural and regional renewal. Email: [email protected]

National Municipal Services Grants Web: dpmc.gov.au The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet offers Ph: 02 6271 5111 grants to Local Governments for projects like road sealing. Email: [email protected]

National National Proceeds of Crime Grants Web: crimeprevention.gov.au Money made through crime is taken and used to fund Ph: 02 6141 2711 community projects to help reduce crime, sometimes Email: [email protected] including safer roads.



National Regional Development Australia Fund Web: regional.gov.au Supports infrastructure needs of regional Australia, including Ph: 02 6274 7111 capital infrastructure projects identified as priorities by local Email: [email protected] communities.

State Community Small Grants Programs ACT: grants.act.gov.au Most States and Territories have a government organisation that NSW: communitybuilders.nsw.gov.au runs a small grants program for community safety or education NT: dob.nt.gov.au projects, which can include applications for road safety projects. QLD: tmr.qld.gov.au SA: dpti.sa.gov.au TAS: tascomfund.org VIC: tac.vic.gov.au WA: rsc.wa.gov.au ors.wa.gov.au/communitygrants



State Departments of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ACT: communityservices.act.gov.au/atsia/grants Islander Affairs NSW: communities.nsw.gov.au Governments have programs to support Aboriginal and Torres NT: daair.gov.nt.ca Strait Islander affairs. Sometimes it is possible to negotiate QLD: datsima.qld.gov.au land use agreements that include improvements to roads. SA: statedevelopment.sa.gov.au Grants may be available for other road safety projects. TAS: dpac.tas.gov.au VIC: dpc.vic.gov.au WA: daa.wa.gov.au

State Police Programs ACT: police.act.gov.au Police forces can sometimes take up requests to undertake extra NSW: police.nsw.gov.au enforcement, such as stopping speeding on a particular road. NT: pfes.nt.gov.au Sometimes the Police also offer grants for community safety QLD: police.qld.gov.au projects, which can include road safety. SA: police.sa.gov.au TAS: police.tas.gov.au VIC: police.vic.gov.au WA: communitysafety.police.wa.gov.au



State School Road Safety Education Grants ACT: det.act.gov.au/teaching_and_learning/ Education Departments usually have materials to teach kids about curriculum_programs/student_ using the roads well. You can ask that your school gets these wellbeing/road_safety_programs materials and lessons. NSW: roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/ stayingsafe/schools/ NT: transport.nt.gov.au/safety/road-safety/ for-schools/school-visits QLD: tmr.qld.gov.au/Safety/School-road- safety/Student-driver-education/ School-road-safety-resources.aspx SA: decd.sa.gov.au/teachingandlearning/ pages/pandp TAS: education.tas.gov.au/About_us/ publications/Pages/Publications.aspx VIC: roadsafetyeducation.vic.gov.au/ WA: sdera.org.au



State State Lotteries / Gambling Grants NSW: clubsnsw.com.au/community/ Grants of all kinds are available from the proceeds of lotteries clubgrants/for-applicants and gambling revenue, such as from poker machines, in most NT: dob.nt.gov.au/gambling-licensing/cbf/ States and Territories. Why not submit one on a road Pages/small-grants-program.aspx safety project? QLD: justice.qld.gov.au/corporate/sponsorships- and-grants/grants/community-benefit- funding-programs SA: salotteries.com.au TAS: dhhs.tas.gov.au/gambling/grants VIC: dtf.vic.gov.au/About/Role-in-government/ Community-Support-Fund WA: lotterywest.wa.gov.au/grants



State Miscellaneous ACT: grants.act.gov.au A variety of local programs might also apply in your area. Here NSW: det.nsw.edu.au are some examples at the time of writing, from small grants for NT: alicesprings.nt.gov.au one-off events to major infrastructure funding opportunities darwin.nt.gov.au (Royalties for Regions). youth.nt.gov.au QLD: brisbane.qld.gov.au/ To check for others, try a web search (with your location and dsdip.qld.gov.au terms such as “community grants program” or “small grants qcf.org.au/grant-seekers program”) or ask at your local Council or Shire if they know about SA: dcsi.sa.gov.au other opportunities in your area. mac.sa.gov.au multicultural.sa.gov.au Try to “think outside the square” – maybe you could make a ofceforyouth.sa.gov.au funding opportunity for the arts, culture or environment, or a TAS: dpac.tas.gov.au festival, tourism or sporting event and have a road safety twist! VIC: business.vic.gov.au multicultural.vic.gov.au WA: drd.wa.gov.au omi.wa.gov.au

More information about the Bidyadanga project

The examples in this booklet were based on the Bidyadanga safe system demonstration project. The safe system project with the Bidyadanga community was a research project funded by Austroads. Detailed information about the safe system and the planning and ‘doing’ phases of the demonstration project can be found on the Austroads publications website. To find these (three) reports, search for the project number ‘SS1653’ at www.onlinepublications.austroads.com.au.

This project started with a ‘safe system audit’ to work out the plan for Bidyadanga in 2010. Through community, research and government partnerships, some unfunded and some funded goals in the plan were achieved over the next three years.

The biggest concern for the community was the lack of a pedestrian crossing on the main community road, which was especially needed near the local school and council. Austroads, Main Roads WA and RoadWise grants, as well as volunteer time by community members, led to a safe crossing being built with speed humps, good lighting, community signs, roadside planting and supporting education on safe pedestrians and safe speeds.

A follow-up audit in early 2014, found much safer behaviour by both pedestrians (using the crossing) and drivers (slowing down through the crossing), with local police saying the project was a great success although there was plenty more that could have been done. The Bidyadanga community is proud of this project and the CEO, Peter Yip, is happy to talk to anyone wanting more information from the community perspective (phone: 08 9192 4885, ext 6/email: [email protected]). The researcher who was one of the main outside-of-community champions on the project is also happy to talk to anyone wanting more information from this perspective (phone: 0437368798/email: [email protected]).

Remote communities are often faced with vast stretches of unsealed, poorly signed roads.

This guide was produced by the Road Safety Commission in Western Australia in conjunction with TARS Research, University of New South Wales, Aus Roads and the Bidyadanga Community.

We would appreciate hearing from you about whether this guide is helpful. If you use the guide to make improvements to the roads in your community we would like to know. You can reach the Road Safety Commission on 1300 999 772.

www.rsc.wa.gov.au

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Keeping your mob safe - RSC · Safe cars are less likely to crash because they have added features to help prevent crashes. An example is Electronic Stability Control which helps