|
|
|
Injury Analysis and Data
The collection, management, analysis, interpretation and presentation of data underpin a wide range of critical research areas in the safety sciences. The Injury Analysis and Data (IAD) team comprises researchers with specialist training in the fields of numerical and behavioural sciences and has a strong focus on safety science research requiring a high degree of numerical acumen. The team has a strong focus on road safety research but also has broad experience in other safety science based research.
Team members:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Belinda Clark |
Angelo D'Elia |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vicky Ribas |
|
Linda Watson |
|
|
The IAD team has high level specialist training in numerical sciences including applied statistics and applied mathematics as well as training in mechanical engineering and psychology. It has specific topic related expertise in safety program and policy evaluation, policy and strategy advice particularly in the areas of police enforcement programs, vehicle safety rating, evaluation and monitoring through mass data analysis, and collection, management, linkage and high level statistical analysis of injury data systems. The team also has expertise in providing high level statistical analysis and research design advice both within and outside MUARC.
Specialist research interests:
Projects:
Vehicle Safety Research
Vehicle safety is one of the cornerstones in the Safe Systems strategic approach to road safety. By improving vehicle safety through the implementation of new technologies and safety features it is posssible not only to reduce the risk of a crash occuring but also to improve the injury outcomes to both vehicle occupants and other road users invovled. The IAD team has a stong vehicle safety research program focused on assessing the crash risk and injury mitigation performace of vehicles both from an historical and future potential perspective based on the analysis of mass crash data sources such as police crash reports and injury compensation claims. Specific research projects during 2008 included:
- Estimation of the injury reduction and economic benefits of safer fleet vehicle choices (Austroads)
- Benchmarking trends in light vehicle safety performance in New Zealand to assess the benefits of vehicle safety policy and consumer programs in improving secondary safety of the NZ fleet and to quantify the contribution of improved vehicle secondary safety to reducing road trauma. (New Zealand Ministry of Transport)
- Estimation of the safety implications of young driver vehicle choices through examination of secondary safety performance of vehicles owned and crashed by young drivers in comparison to vehicles owned and crashed by other demographics. (RACV)
- Used Car Safety Ratings Research Program:
- Ongoing estimation of vehicle secondary safety performance in Australia and New Zealand in terms of crashworthiness, aggressivity and total secondary safety by vehicle make and model, market group and year of manufacture
- Estimation of crash risk associated with vehicle market group for both motorcycles and light passenger vehicles and investigation of potential for optimising the light vehicle fleet with respect to crash risk characteristics of motorcycles and cars
- Quantification of the contributions of vehicle secondary safety improvements to improvements in overall road trauma over time in Australia and New Zealand
- Investigation of the interaction between driver age and gender and relative vehicle secondary safety performance.
(VicRoads, TAC, RACV, NRMA Motoring and Services, NSW RTA, Department of Infrastructure, Queensland Transport, RACQ, WA Office of Road Safety, RACWA, RAA SA, AA NZ, New Zealand Transport Authority)
Road Safety Program Evaluation
Thorough scientific evaluation of road safety programs is vital to ensure programs are achieving their desired outcomes, and providing the best possible outcomes for the investment in them. The outcomes from rigorous program evaluations are also useful for fine tuning the performance of existing programs as well as prioritising future program expenditure. The IAD team research program in 2008 has included a number of evaluations of major road safety programs including:
- Preliminary evaluation of the Safer Roads Infrastructure Program (SRIP1), a $130M blackspot program undertaken in Victoria which targets improvement of country road locations with frequent run-off road crashes as well dangerous intersections in outer metropolitan areas. (VicRoads)
- Evaluation of the crash reduction and the economic benefits of the Victorian Motorcycle Blackspot Program which involved the treatment to date of 95 sites that had a crash history indicating they were especially dangerous for motorcyclists.
- Ongoing assessment of the crash reduction effects of the Queensland mobile Speed Camera Program introduced in Queensland in early 1997. (Queensland Transport).
- Evaluation of the Victorian Vehicle Impoundment Program from a road safety perspective. The Program has been underway for approximately 2 years and this will be the first formal evaluation of the program. The overall aim of the project is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Vehicle Impoundment legislation in reducing the occurrence and recidivism of “hoon” driving behaviour using focus group sessions comprised of individuals who have been convicted under the Victoria Vehicle Impoundment Legislation. (Victoria Police).
Road Safety Data Systems and Trend Analysis
High quality data systems underpin high quality research and ensure the best possible research outcomes across all domains of injury prevention research. The IAD team have a wide range of projects aimed at enhancing the scope and quality of data available in the road safety research field including the following major projects:
- Ongoing updates of the Countermeasure Monitor System, a collection of data of various types and from various sources on a regular basis to be used in evaluation studies of road safety enforcement and publicity programs. This data collection system includes Police operational data, Police crash data, road safety advertising data, demographic data and socio-economic data. (Baseline)
- Feasibility of linking Victorian road safety injury data sources that underpin much of the injury prevention research carried out by MUARC. These data sets include: the State Traffic Accident Record of all police reported road crashes in Victoria, Transport Accident Commission claims data, Australian National Crash In-Depth Study and the Victorian Admitted Episodes Database covering all admissions to Victorian hospitals. (Baseline)
- Re Assessment of High Alcohol Driving Times to enable police to provide the strategic deployment of booze buses in the detection of drink-drivers. High alcohol times are defined as the time periods of the week when illegal drink-driving is more likely to occur. It is believed that alcohol consumption habits have changed substantially in recent years and in turn there may have been a change in the high alcohol times of the week. (Victoria Police)
- Design of an on-road driver alcohol and drug survey program in Melbourne subsequently conducted in the Melbourne Statistical Division during late 2008. (Baseline)
- Feasibilty of assessing motorcycle crash risks in Victoria from existing or prospective data sources including speed monitoring and traffic count data with a focus on the separate effects of inappropriate and excessive motorcycle speed and changes in traffic speed on motorcycle crashes. (VicRoads)
- Design of a road-side observation survey program exploring: Seat belt and child restraint wearing behaviours, mobile phone usage, and bull-bars within the Melbourne Statistical Division in order to obtain data on seatbelt and child restraint wearing rates and adherence to correct fitting protocol, mobile phone usage while driving, and the presence of bull-bars. (Baseline)
- Examination of major factors influencing road crash and injury trends in NSW and projection of future trends in key road safety target areas and road user groups. (Insurance Australia Group)
Startegic Analysis and Advice
Lessons learned in conducting evaluation research and data analyses often put researchers in a strong position to provide strategic advice and targetted strategic analysis to agencies developing road safety policy and programs. Through its extensive experience accumulated in the research areas listed above, the IAD team has been involved in a range of projects during 2008 offering strategic advice to a range of Government authorities including:
- Development of a framework for evaluation of the Queensland road safety strategy to accurately monitor and report on the outcomes of the Queensland Road Safety Strategy for 2004-2011 and associated action plans. (Queensland Transport)
- Development of strategies for speed camera enforcement in Queensland covering mobile speed cameras, speed/red-light cameras at intersections, and fixed speed cameras on major roads including point-to-point average speed camera systems. (Queensland Transport)
- Further development of strategies for best practice in speed enforcement in Western Australia (Office of Road Safety, WA)
- The review of the traffic enforcement program and strategy in Region 1 of the Victoria Police which aims to support the establishment of a multi-agency intelligence capacity to collect, analyse and disseminate road safety intelligence. The intelligence-led approach is heavily dependent on “intelligence systems that enable police to predict where trauma is most likely to occur and direct resources accordingly for preventative enforcement”. (Victoria Police)
- Research into aspects of a new Victoria Police traffic enforcement model to support Victoria’s new road safety strategy “arrive alive! 2008-2017” and beyond. The three objectives of the project are to review national and international enforcement activities and models comparable or applicable to Victoria, identify the best methods to measure the effectiveness of enforcement activities and, in the road safety enforcement context, establish the basis and requirement for dedicated “traffic” police as opposed to general duties police only. (Victoria Police)
|
