Government and community hand-in-hand

In the field of child road safety, walking hand in hand is a key message, both to parents, as a reminder for vigilance in the traffic environment, and to road safety stakeholders, as a guide for best practice.  The Motor Accidents Authority (MAA) and Kidsafe NSW have worked in partnership on a number of projects and continue to contribute to child road safety at local and state levels.

The MAA is the regulator of NSW?s compulsory third party personal injury (or CTP) insurance scheme and has a legislative role to support injury prevention and contribute to the reduction of injury and disability as a result of crashes on NSW roads.  

Kidsafe NSW is a well-established community, charity-based organisation, with a statewide presence in the domain of child safety and the capacity to work with communities at a local level.  As a neutral agency, credible in the domain of child safety and injury prevention, Kidsafe acts as a key communicator and is able to promote child safety, coordinate consultation, and collaborate with a number of key stakeholders and community representatives.  

Combining the Motor Accidents Authority?s core business interest in road safety and Kidsafe?s core business in child safety, this partnership conducts research and implements strategies to address child road safety issues and countermeasures.  Recent joint ventures include the Child Pedestrian Safety In Communities Project (November 2001 ? June 2003), consisting of the ?kids need a hand in traffic? media campaign, community grants, a website and resource development, and the Child Road Safety Initiative (July 2003 ? January 2005), addressing child passenger, pedestrian, and pedal cyclist safety issues.  

Input from key stakeholders, through consultation and collaboration, has been a critical component to the efficiency and effectiveness of strategies, with projects building from previous lessons.  Successes and challenges will be discussed from both partnership and project perspectives and provide insight into experience with meaningful partnerships.