Annual Report 2006 (main body) - RTA - NSW Government

FIGURE 11
Fatalities per 100,000 population
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
COMPETENT
ROAD USERS
NEW DRIVERS
TRENDS FOR FATALITIES PER 100,000 POPULATION
AND MOTOR VEHICLE TRAVEL SINCE 1978
Young driver initiatives
In July 2005 the NSW Government
introduced two changes to the provisional
licence scheme – the prohibited vehicle
and passenger conditions. Both these new
initiatives aim to help reduce the young
driver road toll.
The prohibited vehicle condition restricts all
new provisional (P1 and P2) drivers from
driving certain high performance vehicles.
The scheme aims to prohibit young driver
access to vehicles that are overrepresented
in young driver crashes.
The passenger condition applies to
provisional (P1 and P2) drivers who are
disqualified from driving for a driving offence
that is committed on or after 11 July 2005
and will apply for 12 months.This condition
restricts the provisional licence holder from
carrying more than one passenger when
driving after the disqualification period.
Novice Driver Program trial
The NSW Government agreed to
participate, through the RTA, in a national
Estimated travel (million vehicle kms)
1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006
Estimated travel (million vehicle kms)
Fatalities per 100,000 population
65,000
60,000
55,000
50,000
45,000
40,000
35,000
30,000
trial of an innovative post-licence program
for new provisional drivers. Others in the trial
include the Australian Government,Victorian
Government, Insurance Australia Group,
Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries
and Royal Automotive Club of Victoria.
The focus of the program is on driver
behaviour and hazard perception with the
aim of achieving a statistically significant
reduction in the number and/or severity of
crashes experienced by novice drivers.The
program consists of classroom and invehicle
activities and will target drivers who
have held a provisional licence for up to
three months.
To measure a statistically significant
reduction in crashes the trial requires a
minimum of 6,600 provisional licence
holders in NSW to undertake the training
and an additional 6,600 provisional drivers
as a comparison group.
The cost of the trial program was estimated
at $10 million with the NSW Government
committing $2.5 million towards the project.
The recruitment and training of trial
participants will start in November 2007
and the final evaluation of the program is
scheduled in May 2010.
CHILD SAFETY
Child road safety
The safety of children as road users is a key
priority for the community and a new
package of initiatives was announced after a
round table discussion was held by the
Minister for Roads in June 2006 with selected
stakeholders.
These initiatives included:
Development of a new electronic
school zone safety alert system to
warn drivers approaching a 40 km/h
school zone during school zone hours.
Selection of suitable technology
commenced in June 2006.
Commissioning of additional speed
cameras to be used in NSW school
zones to monitor vehicle speeds.
Increased fines and demerit points
for driving offences in school zones.
Establishment of ‘Drop Off’ and
‘Pick Up’ parking and marshalling zones.
Enhancement of the School Crossing
Supervisor scheme to ensure reliability
and efficiency.
School road safety education
The RTA’s NSW School Road Safety
Education Program (K-2) supports road
safety education through compulsory
components of the school curriculum.
The program is a partnership between the
RTA and organisations involved in road safety
education in government, Catholic, and
independent schools and early childhood
services. The RTA funds these education
agencies to provide educational consultancy
support to schools, professional
development and policy advice.
A new secondary school road safety
education resource for Stage 6 (Year 11 and
12) English students is being developed.This
resource,‘In the driver’s seat – the nature of
authority’, uses a variety of RTA media texts
designed to develop students’ analysis of
youth, driver, pedestrian and passenger safety.
POSITIVE ROAD SAFETY OUTCOMES 33