Community Road Safety Initiatives for the Minerals Industry
Abstract
:1. Background
1.1. The International Context around Which a Minerals Industry CRS Strategy Fits
- 1.
- Road safety management (e.g., monitoring and evaluation of targets);
- 2.
- Safer roads and mobility (e.g., road safety audits);
- 3.
- Safer vehicles (including seatbelts);
- 4.
- Safer road users (e.g., alcohol, young drivers, speed restricting);
- 5.
- Post-crash responses (e.g., establish trauma databases).
- Road safety goals, objectives and actions: Safe roads, Safe speeds, Safe vehicles, Safe people.
- Reduce Australia’s annual number of road deaths and serious injuries by at least 30% by 2020.
- Develop interventions that respond to the different needs and circumstances of urban, regional and remote Australia. The predominant crash types and risk factors vary between these broad areas. Fatality rates per population are significantly higher in regional and remote areas.
- Reduce serious casualties on roads controlled by local government. Local roads account for more than 50% of serious casualties in some states.
- Reduce the incidence of serious casualties within Indigenous communities and among other disadvantaged people.
1.2. A Safe Systems Framework
1.3. Safe Systems and CRS for the Minerals Industry
- Creating an informed community;
- Mobilizing resources to tackle road safety issues at a local level;
- Promoting effective action at a local level;
- Integrating activities—linking key stakeholders to support each other’s activities.
2. Community Road Safety Initiatives Relevant to the Minerals Industry
2.1. The Main Topics of CRS Initiatives
- Speed behavior and enforcement;
- Safer vehicles;
- Restraints/seatbelts;
- Drink driving behavior and enforcement;
- Driver distraction;
- Road sense (i.e., greater awareness in the community about road rules, skills and road deaths);
- Aboriginal road safety;
- Legislative changes (e.g., to laws about driving under the influence of drugs).
2.2. Analysis of Road/Traffic Safety Interventions
2.3. Approaches often Used
- Marketing programs;
- Family member programs;
- Simulators;
- Safety groups;
- Road safety “weeks”;
- Conferences and safety awards;
- Media outreach;
- Regulator briefings and involvement.
3. Case Studies of Community Road Safety Initiatives
3.1. The Mackay “Road Accident Action Group—RAAG”
3.1.1. Description of Intervention
3.1.2. Intervention Strategies
3.1.3. Intervention Evaluation
3.1.4. Evidence of Community Engagement/Partnership or Ownership
3.2. “Helmets for Kids”
3.2.1. Description of Intervention
3.2.2. Intervention Strategies
3.2.3. Intervention Evaluation
- Brondum, Truong, and Dinh [17] investigated helmet use before and after the intervention in 24 schools in four provinces of Vietnam. They found that helmet compliance increased from 24% in the pre-intervention period to 95% in the post-intervention period. However, qualitative information showed that parents of children could be more effectively engaged in encouraging their children’s use of helmets.
- In 2007, a compulsory helmet law was introduced in Vietnam. It is thought that the “Helmets for Kids” campaign played a major role in bringing this law to fruition [19].
3.2.4. Evidence of Community Engagement/Partnership or Ownership
3.3. “The Light Vehicle Project”
3.3.1. Description of Intervention
3.3.2. Intervention Strategies
3.3.3. Intervention Evaluation
3.4. Lessons Learnt from the Case Studies
3.4.1. Identify a Pertinent Road/Traffic Safety Problem
- That is a significant need in a community;
- That can be addressed in the short term (e.g., 2 years).
3.4.2. Partner with Stakeholders Who Have Capabilities Different from Your Company’s
- Groups who can identify a community road/traffic safety problem and intervention;
- Government agencies, so that interventions can be embedded into a community (e.g., education);
- Groups who can play an important role in modeling and or enforcing behavior (e.g., parents);
- Groups who can objectively evaluate the outcomes of a program.
3.4.3. Know Your Organization’s Strengths
- One company provided funding and leadership in training and social marketing.
3.4.4. The Attributes of a Sustainable Intervention Include:
- Build community capacity or expertise (personnel or infrastructure): The “Helmets for Kids” intervention targeted children, hoping also to change the attitudes and behavior of children’s families toward helmet use. It also established a national factory to manufacture helmets, a piece of infrastructure that would ensure the sustainability of the project;
- Intervention is in alignment with community needs and values: In the “Helmets for Kids” intervention, affordable, high-quality helmets were developed that were suitable for a tropical environment and for Asian traffic demands;
- Community can see that the intervention is effective and will provide long-term benefits.
3.4.5. Publicize the Outcomes of the Intervention in Meaningful Ways
- For example, highlight the impacts of the intervention in terms of fewer injuries or fatalities. Media releases posted by one company highlighted that “the estimated total number of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) saved as a result of the intervention was 530”.
4. Discussion: Which CRS Processes Are most Effective for the Minerals Industry?
4.1. Interventions often Work Best When Strategies Are Tailored to Local Community Needs and Use Collaborative Approaches
- Supplementing and supporting existing programs that are successful;
- Providing sound advice to local community groups;
- Liaising with and influencing external stakeholders;
- Developing relationships with other agencies/organizations to involve them in community road safety programs.
4.2. Ambassadors
4.3. Building on Fleet Road Safety Programs
- Build in road safety as part of their community engagement strategy;
- Join and be proactive members in existing safety groups;
- Be involved in road safety weeks or other community events;
- Enter award schemes to encourage, promote and evaluate good practice initiatives;
- Include family members in initiatives;
- Present papers at relevant conferences/forums;
- Develop public relations efforts around safety performance;
- Have a long-term strategy;
- Engage employees and local communities;
- Link road safety to other safety and environmental initiatives (e.g., less need to travel for work reasons);
- Work with industry regulators, such as inviting them to comment on aspects of operations.
- Organizations doing their own road safety assessments (e.g., of routes to be frequently used);
- Scheduling of heavy vehicles to minimize disruption to other road users;
- Buying of safe vehicles;
- Requiring drivers to act safely (e.g., training, fatigue);
- Focusing on speed and helping to create safe road infrastructure (e.g., through co-investment with road authorities).
4.4. Factors Influencing CRS Success
- Recognition of community road safety as part of good practice road safety;
- Value of strategic plans at the community level;
- Integration of community road safety with other aspects of local government activity;
- Wider communication of possibilities and benefits of community road safety;
- More cost effective use of the local media;
- The role of the road safety coordinator;
- Management of programs to maintain momentum.
- Relies critically in the involvement of the community—they have the right to be fully informed about road safety;
- Measures are identified, initiated, and supported at a local level;
- Does not only focus on formal school education but can involve schools (essential, but only one part of the solution);
- Communicates to all groups—not just schools and school children;
- Combines analysis of accident data with stakeholder consultation;
- Anticipates being sustainable—local ownership of community road safety programs is essential for sustainability;
- Participatory methods are most effective in delivering community road safety;
- A wide package of different educational, enforcement, and engineering strategies are needed to change road user behavior and attitudes. Needs diverse sources (e.g., not all adults can read);
- Aims to produce behavioral change for a safer environment.
5. Conclusions
- Fit within international, national and state approaches (e.g., Safe Systems), i.e., they consider best practices elsewhere;
- Mobilize resources to address the actual needs of the local community;
- Engage and link all key stakeholders (e.g., councils, schools, and local community members) by integrating activities at local and central support levels;
- Build on successful existing RS initiatives (e.g., extending industry fleet safety programs to include CRS) and local government activity;
- Partner with local media for enhanced visibility and communication;
- Adopt collaborative and participatory approaches (e.g., road safety “ambassadors”, road safety coordinators, or other key individuals);
- Are evaluated by a range of metrics (e.g., social capital, crash reductions, community engagement);
- Successes are disseminated (positive reinforcement);
- Have long-term proactive strategies to produce behavioral change (e.g., young people become compliant road users and advocates for safe road use);
- Become sustainable through an informed community with local ownership;
- Enable key players in local communities to believe that solutions are within their power and that they have the responsibility to play a role in implementing and delivering solutions.
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
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Horberry, T.; Harris, J.; Shi, M.; Kirsch, P.; Rifkin, W.; Harris, A. Community Road Safety Initiatives for the Minerals Industry. Minerals 2014, 4, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.3390/min4010001
Horberry T, Harris J, Shi M, Kirsch P, Rifkin W, Harris A. Community Road Safety Initiatives for the Minerals Industry. Minerals. 2014; 4(1):1-16. https://doi.org/10.3390/min4010001
Chicago/Turabian StyleHorberry, Tim, Jill Harris, Meng Shi, Philipp Kirsch, Will Rifkin, and Andrew Harris. 2014. "Community Road Safety Initiatives for the Minerals Industry" Minerals 4, no. 1: 1-16. https://doi.org/10.3390/min4010001