Update Newsletter December 2008
Inside this issue
- 18 road safety grants for our local communities
- Projects targeting emerging communities
- Projects targeting drink driving
- Opportunities for 2009
18 More road safety grants for our local communities
Round 3 has seen yet another successful outcome for our local communities. Eighteen new TAC Community Road Safety Grants have been approved. The Assessment Panel congratulates these groups for identifying local road safety issues and developing high standard applications.
The TAC has to date approved 59 projects for funding, with community road safety grants
totalling more than $1 million.
Local councils, organisations working with diverse ethnic communities, RoadSafe groups and a broad range of local community groups are developing and implementing projects to address road safety issues such as cyclist and pedestrian safety, drink driving, speed, child restraints and road safety education for new arrivals and refugees.
The following page provides a summary of the successful Round 3 projects.
Round 2: Approved projects
| Organisation | Project & Focus | Grant |
|---|---|---|
| Adult Multicultural Education Services (AMES) | Driving with Refugees Development of a training program for volunteer supervising drivers | $20,000 |
| Barwon RoadSafe | Know Your Limit BAC level awareness | $12,440 |
| Bicycle Victoria | Learning to Light Encouraging cyclists to use lights at night | $20,000 |
| Brotherhood of St Laurence | Child Restraint Community Education Project Driver safety awareness among newly arrived parents with young children | $10,467 |
| Caulfield Community Health Service | Star Rating System for Pedestrian Walking Routes Pedestrian safety among primary school children | $20,000 |
| City of Darebin | Darebin Road Safety Strategy 2009-2014 Development of municipal road safety strategy | $20,000 |
| City of Greater Bendigo | NightRider Bus Service Reduction of drink driving and walking | $20,000 |
| City of Greater Geelong | imPEDiment Review of Geelongs pedestrian network | $11,440 |
| Eastern Region Community Road Safety Councils Inc | Motorcycle Communications To decrease motorcycle crashes in eastern Victoria | $19,800 |
| Fitzroy Learning Network | Super Vision for Safe Driving Accessing supervised driving practice for new arrivals or socially isolated adults | $20,000 |
| Kidsafe Victoria Inc | New Child Restraint Regulations Trial the effectiveness of free information sessions | $20,000 |
| Latrobe City Council | Latrobe City NightRider Trial a late night transport service in the Traralgon entertainment precinct | $20,000 |
| LINK Community Transport Inc | Transport Access Points (TAPs) Safer shopping centre pick-up/drop-off for the mobility impaired | $20,000 |
| Melton Shire Council | Reducing Speed in Local Streets and School Zones Use of speed advisory trailers | $20,000 |
| Moira Shire Council | Not So Fast Targeting speeding in local streets using a speed advisory trailer | $16,830 |
| Sunraysia Mallee Ethnic Communities Council | Safer Drivers for a Safer Community Assisting new arrivals to gain their Driver Licences | $20,000 |
| The Peechalba District Community Development Group Inc. | Pedestrian Safety Initiative Support for pedestrian safety in a rural community | $20,000 |
| Wellington Shire Council | Wellington Strategic Road Safety Plan Review Update road safety strategy | $8,000 |
Emerging communities and road safety
Eleven projects were approved in Rounds 1 and 2 to help new arrivals and refugees to become
safer drivers.
The TAC conducted a workshop on 6 August 2008, providing an opportunity to discuss project development and key issues relating to classroom and on-road supervised practice, including access to vehicles and volunteers.
For Round 3, the TAC received several more applications from community groups supporting
migrant and refugee communities. Although these applications were of a high standard and
clearly identified the road safety issues affecting their communities, the Assessment Panel believes that outcomes and learnings from the existing projects need to be understood before
additional projects can be funded.
However, the TAC has approved the following four projects, which identified new areas of need to support safe driving for emerging communities:
- the development of training materials for volunteer supervising drivers of new arrivalsand refugees that can be implemented state-wide
- accessing supervised driving practice for new arrivals or socially isolated adults. This project aims to address the social isolation of unlicensed adults, as well as new arrivals
- building on an existing program to assist new arrivals to gain their Driver Licences in ageographically isolated community* promoting driver safety awareness among newly arrived parents with young children
Further, Adult Multicultural Education Services (AMES) has convened a working group, the Refugee Driver Program, which aims to develop a program to address current issues that new arrivals face with regard to learning to drive and understanding road safety, rules and regulations.
The TAC participates on this group and will support the program development. Other participants include Victoria Police, VicRoads, Victorian Multicultural Commission and
Consumer Affairs Victoria.
Supporting Drink Driving reduction programs
As outlined in the June update, the TAC has encouraged applications for projects to address
drink driving in communities. There have been several applications to increase awareness of
standard drinks and BAC levels.
An example of a successful application was received from Barwon RoadSafe.
Following a recent Police operation in the Barwon area, an average of 1 in 74 drivers were tested with a BAC over the legal limit, with one operation identifying 1 in 21 drivers (the state average being 1 in 121). The results indicated that a high proportion of drivers were detected at just over the legal limit (around 0.07), suggesting people may need more information on standard drinks and BAC levels.
The goal of this project is to increase community awareness of the effects of low level alcohol consumption, BAC levels and driving. The Barwon RoadSafe will support sporting clubs and service/other clubs to raise awareness with their patrons through the use of breathalyser devices and by providing key information to licensees and patrons.
The TAC wishes Barwon RoadSafe well in their project and look forward to receiving its evaluation and outcome report.
Opportunities for 2009
Round 4 of the TAC Community Road Safety Grants program will close on 13 February 2009.
Applications must be received at the TAC no later than 4pm on the closing date. Please remember, as the TAC will be operating in Geelong from January 2009, Round 4 applications should be sent to:
Transport Accident Commission
Community Road Safety Grants
PO Box 742
GEELONG VIC 3220
60 Brougham Street
GEELONG VIC 3220
To discuss your project idea, please contact the Road Safety Grants Officer on (03) 9664 6954. From January 2009, the number will be (03) 5225 6954.
Guidelines and Application Forms for 2008/09
The 2008/09 TAC Road Safety Grants Guidelines and Application form are available online at www.tac.vic.gov.au or by calling the Road Safety Grants Officer on (03) 9664 6954 or (03) 5525 6954 from January 2009.
