Victoria’s road safety innovators recognised at inaugural awards

02 May 2014

The Victorian Coalition Government has recognised the State’s best road safety initiatives at the inaugural Towards Zero Road Safety Awards presented by the Assistant Treasurer Gordon Rich-Phillips last night.

The awards are part of the Towards Zero Symposium, an Australian-first event being held in Melbourne over two days and bringing together experts and leaders committed to action to reduce road trauma. The awards recognise significant leadership and reporting of road safety initiatives by journalists and organisations.

Mr Rich-Phillips said the Towards Zero Symposium had heard from the best in the world about potential initiatives to address road trauma, and the awards acknowledged Victoria’s successes and support for these initiatives by organizations and media outlets.

“One hundred influential leaders have been brought together for this conference which will create a solid foundation for a stronger road safety culture throughout the community,” Mr Rich-Phillips said.

“This symposium is about exploring solutions to help reduce road trauma in our communities and ensuring the road safety message is being heard.

“Victoria is known as a leader in road safety and these award winners are the leaders in our own community, with programs and initiatives already making a difference.

“The media has an important role in raising community awareness of road safety issues and the Towards Zero media award winners have shown excellence in investigating and analysing issues which have had an important impact on road safety,” Mr Rich-Phillips said.

The Towards Zero Road Safety Awards 2014 winners are:

Safe System Awards
Safe Roads
Winner: VicRoads - South Gippsland Run Off Road Project
Commendation: Inner Melbourne Road Safety Action Group - Inner Melbourne Motorcycle Route Safety Review

Safe Speeds
Winner: Mornington Peninsula Shire - Peninsula Safer Speeds
Commendation: City of Yarra - Successful implementation of 40km/h speed-limit on all local roads in the City of Yarra

Safe Vehicles
Winner: Robert Bosch Australia - Motorcycle ABS & Stability Control Systems

Safe People
Winner: McColls Transport - Safety First
Commendation: RACV - Child restraint Presentation for CALD Families

Media Awards
Best Metropolitan News story
Winner: Channel 7, Jacqui Felgate, Driver to Distraction
Highly Commended: ABC News and Current Affairs, Amy Bainbridge and Paul Cullen, Global road safety study of older drivers
Commended: The Age, Marc Moncrief, Craig Butt and Aisha Dow, CrowdSpot and the data map team

Best Regional News Story
Winner: Southern Cross Ten, Tracy Alexander, Operation Nickel
Highly Commended: Colac Herald, Jennifer Chiu, Dad’s death leaves lasting pain
Commended: Pakenham Gazette, Danielle Galvin, Bloody Idiot

Best Media Outlet
Winner: Geelong Advertiser
Highly Commended: Colac Herald
Commended: Channel 7

Yesterday at the launch of the Towards Zero Symposium, the Road Safety Dashboard was released which presents the latest road safety data in an interactive, easy to understand format that shows serious injury data, graphs and the road safety strategy target.

To find out more about the Towards Zero Symposium visit: http://www.roadsafety.vic.gov.au/partners/events/towards-zero-road-safety-leadership-symposium.html

To see how the Victorian Coalition Government is working in close partnership with the community, a key goal of the Victorian Government’s Road Safety Strategy 2013-2022

A VicRoads representative accepts the Safe Roads award from Assistant Treasurer Gordon Rich-Phillips.

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Assistant Treasurer Gordon Rich-Phillips presents representatives from the Mornington Peninsula Shire with the award for Safe Speeds.

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A representative from Robert Bosch Australia accepts the Safe Vehicles award from Assistant Treasurer Gordon Rich-Phillips

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McColls Transport with the Safe People award for the company’s Safety First initiative

Assistant Treasurer Gordon Rich-Phillips presents a representative from McColls Transport with the Safe People award for the company’s Safety First initiative

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