A strategic approach to road safety at the local level

The 2004 WHO Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention recommended safety features should be incorporated into land-use and transport planning, and new road projects should be subject to road safety audits. These are not new ideas in Australia, but the process of implementing them has been slow. A major focus in NSW has been to encourage local councils to develop strategic plans for their road safety programs.

This presentation looks at what we have learned about the process of developing road safety strategic plans at the local government level in NSW. The process promotes a council wide approach to road safety, provides a focus for other stakeholders and promotes community ownership and participation. The result is a model which has been refined as it has been applied with over thirty local councils.