Workshops will run concurrently from 9.00am to 1.00pm on Friday 19th October 2007.

Morning tea and lunch will be provided.

Please note that Workshops registration does not include conference registration. Registration for the Conference days (Wednesday and Thursday) and the Workshops (Friday) are charged separately.

Effectiveness & Social Acceptance of Speed Enforcement Internationally

The workshop will outline the research and knowledge gained to date, and present plans for an international comparison of the different automatic speed enforcement systems in each jurisdiction with a view to determining to determining the optimal speed enforcement and speeding penalty regimes. The assessment criteria will go beyond economic effectiveness in terms of road trauma reductions to include the socio-political capital invested in automatic speed enforcement in each jurisdiction. Dr Max Cameron from MUARC will present the research on speed enforcement effectiveness and economic analysis, and Dr Laurent Carnis from INRETS will present a framework for considering the broader socio-political dimensions in the assessment.

Other knowledgeable participants at the Conference will also be invited to present and join the panel for open discussion with the workshop attendees.

Program overview

MUARC and the French INRETS-GARIG group have been collaborating regarding speed enforcement, its effectiveness, economic value, and political and social acceptance in various jurisdictions, particularly with regard to automatic surveillance systems. Extensive documentation has been done on what is known on these issues from research in the Australian States, New Zealand, Great Britain, Sweden and France.

Automatic speed enforcement (ASE) systems can be analysed through an economic approach. One way to proceed can consist in valuing the costs and the benefits attached to the operation of the system. Then the optimal situation can be conceived as the outcome of a trade-off between saved lives and costs of operating the system.

However it is only one part of the picture. Other costs can be highlighted by the economic approach. The different alternatives for institutional frameworks warrant a rigorous analysis and can show that different situations imply different costs of systems. The working of the ASE system can also require some political and social trade-offs. The intensity of speed controls can be very unpopular and the subject of political pressure. The severity of punishment emphasises also that some collective decisions need to be taken about regulating dangerous and illegal driving (amount of punishment, demerit points…). It is necessary to develop an economic approach applied to sociological and political issues to have a full and better understanding of the collective decisions.

View Program Here

The Presenters

Dr Laurent Carnis , is a researcher at INRETS (the National Institute for Transport and Safety Research, France) and works for GARIG department (Road Risk Analysis and its Governance). He is also a lecturer in economics at the Business School of Rouen. His research focuses on traffic policing, speed regulation and speed enforcement. Recently he and co-authors published a booklet on traffic police organisations and completed studies on automated speed enforcement programs.

Dr Max Cameron is part-time Principal Research Fellow in the Monash University Accident Research Centre. His Ph.D. thesis was on statistical evaluation of road trauma countermeasures. He has worked in the road safety field in Australia since 1965, with extensive experience in road safety research and its management, and in road safety policy formulation and strategic planning. His research interests at MUARC have included rating the crashworthiness of cars, and evaluations of the Victorian speed camera program, the random breath test "booze bus" program, the high-profile mass media publicity supporting each of these, and the economic benefits of these road safety measures.

Mr Brendan Facey is Director, Policy and Strategic Services, within the Infringement Management and Enforcement Services Unit, in the Department of Justice, Victoria.

Samantha Cockfield is the Transport Accident Commission's Manager of Road Safety.

Prof Narelle Haworth is Professor in Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation at the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety-Queensland (CARRS-Q), which is part of the QUT Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation.  Before that, she spent 18 years at the Monash University Accident Research Centre, where she led research projects in almost all areas of road safety, including studies of fatigue in driving, seat belt wearing by truck drivers, road user behaviour in developing countries, development of data collection methodologies, driver training and licensing, coin-operated breath testing, motorcycle safety and single vehicle crashes.  She has contributed to the development of motorcycle safety policy and general road safety policy in several States of Australia.

Alcohol under the spotlight: refocusing efforts to reduce alcohol-related road trauma

This workshop will explore possible solutions to the harmful impacts of alcohol consumption on the safety of road users in local communities. Besides presentations on the principles involved, participants will also be engaged in a hypothetical discussion and be challenged to agree on the critical actions needed to inform the development of local policies, education campaigns and action plans.

Program overview

In 1999, the US Centers for Disease Control noted that “the dramatic reduction in motor vehicle injuries and deaths has been declared one of the ten greatest public health accomplishments of the twentieth century”. These achievements cannot be sustained without major intervention at all levels and for all road users. One of the areas for intervention which would benefit from refocused effort is alcohol-related behaviours.

After presenting four perspectives on the issues – research, treatment, community education and program implementation – to better understand the potential for change, Geoff Munro will challenge participants to think creatively to identify the gaps in the available interventions and generate potential solutions to fill those gaps. A synthesis of the ideas will be posted to the VSCN website later in the year and provided to the Conference Partners.

The Presenters

Geoff Munro, Director of the Community Alcohol Action Network at the Australian Drug Foundation, will facilitate the workshop. CAAN mobilises community action on key environmental factors that encourage unsafe drinking, especially how alcohol is marketed and distributed. The role of local government is a major interest for CAAN and is frequently reported on in its weekly e-bulletin GrogWatch.

Dr Michael Lenné is a Senior Research Fellow at the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) and Manager of the Human Factors and Simulation group. He has been involved in research on a range of human factors and transport safety projects focused on alcohol, drugs and driving. These include simulator evaluations of the effects of drugs and alcohol on driving performance, the development of a methodology to measure the effects of alcohol on pedestrian road-crossing behaviour, and an analysis of contributory factors in fatal crashes involving alcohol and other drugs.

Mr Gerard O'Reilly is a senior surgeon at the Alfred Hospital's Trauma Centre.

Samantha Cockfield is the Transport Accident Commission's Manager of Road Safety.

Dr John Wiggers , Director of Population Health at Hunter New England Health, and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Newcastle, led the development of an intersectoral initiative between police and health practitioners – the Alcohol Linking program – to reduce the incidence of assault, drink-driving, and domestic violence. John will describe the elements of the program, which has been rolled out in communities across NSW, and the evaluation results.

Traffic Safety Education Workshop

This workshop will provide an opportunity for road safety education professionals and practitioners from schools and the community to participate in activities and discussions related to:

* The development of best practice guiding principles in road safety, Anne Miller, Project Officer - School Drug Education & Road Aware, Perth & Stacey Waters, Research Associate - Edith Cowen University, Perth
* Practical applications of education, Paul Graham, Advertising Manager - Land Transport New Zealand
* Cultural diversity in road safety education, Sheryl Mc Hugh, Transport Project Officer - Wellington Shire Council
* Integration of active transport and road safety for children, Brent Phillips, Senior Project Officer - Department of Planning and Community Development
* Different approaches to young driver road safety education, Dr Sophie Oh, Road User Behaviour - VicRoads

The Police Role in Research & Enforcement of Drug Impaired Driving

Victoria Police is leading the world in the field targeting Drug Impaired Driving, this workshop will focus on the research and enforcement issues, examing the experiences of general enforcement and those specific to the Heavy Vehicle Industry. The Workshop sessions will be facilitated by member representatives of the Australasian Traffic Policing Forum.