Effective implementation

Local government

National, state and local government all have an important role in improving road safety in South Australia.

Local government manages a significant proportion of the roads in South Australia. As road managers, councils design, build, maintain and regulate roads and footpaths as well as have a shared responsibility for providing a safe road environment for all road users.³⁵

Local government is the level of government closest to the community. In South Australia, they are a significant employer and community leader, employing approximately 11,000 people. Work-related travel (and vehicles as a workplace) can be influenced through policy and by developing road safety culture within councils and their communities.

All levels of government will need to work together to improve data, create a safe road system and minimise harm.

Key strategies

73. Support capacity building in local government and develop and maintain a shared understanding of the road safety evidence base and safe systems approach through strengthening engagement with and support provided to local government;
74. Work in partnership with local government with a holistic view to improving road safety, consulting with them on proposed actions to ensure that planned measures adapt to the needs of the local area. This may include:
    • Supporting the development of Network Safety Plans;
    • Working with Councils on reviewing, designing and improving local precincts, including schools, to prioritise infrastructure improvements such as crossings, signage and connectivity for pedestrians and cyclists; and
    • Using an evidence based approach to inform decision making, such as the black spot program.

Build understanding and support for action

We recognise the need to build and retain skilled people across a range of disciplines both within government and organisations involved in road safety, including road design and planning, road safety assessment and prioritisation, behaviour change, education and communication, enforcement, policy and legislation and data and analytics.

Consistent with the proposed approach outlined in the National Road Safety Strategy, we will adopt a social model approach to road safety, reaching beyond the traditional transport sector to achieve cultural change.

The social model approach recognises that road safety is not solely a transport problem, and that transport solutions alone are not enough to realise Vision Zero by 2050. This approach aims to prevent road trauma through building wider community acceptance and collective ownership of road safety solutions.

Achieving a cultural shift in attitudes and perceptions of road safety and support for changes that can reduce lives lost and serious injuries on South Australian roads will require a range of education and public awareness campaigns to build public understanding of the evidence base.

Key strategies

75. Collaborate with individuals, businesses, regulatory partners, Aboriginal communities and organisations, organisations (including schools, sporting and other clubs/groups), local government and across government to promote, enhance and sustain a culture of road safety;
76. Build and retain capacity and capability across a range of disciplines, within both government and organisations involved in road safety; and
77. A variety of communication channels will be used to effectively embed communication triggers and reminders to reinforce road safety messaging.

Improving and integrating information, data and research

To achieve our goals, reliable and consistent data and information is needed to monitor, evaluate and understand the impacts of our actions over the life of this Strategy. Continuous improvements to our road safety data will be underpinned by expanded access to primary information resources from both within government and private sector data consolidators that will allow for appropriate impact modelling and Key Performance Indicator (KPI) tracking to be developed.

As a longer term measure, it is proposed to put in place a more sophisticated modelling tool that enables the road safety outcomes of different scenarios to be modelled across the network to inform decision making using a big data approach.

Further research and data is required to better understand how people are being seriously injured. Currently there is no national definition of what constitutes a serious injury. A consistent definition across Australian jurisdictions is critical to improve the measurement and reporting of serious injury crashes. Work is being done at the national level to match hospital records with police reported crash data. Reporting on crash data alone can result in under reporting of certain types of crashes (e.g. cyclist only crashes) whereas matching this with hospital data will provide a more complete picture of the severity and treatment of injuries.

Better data is needed to understand the problem and inform decisions relating to Aboriginal road safety, workplace road safety, fatigue and distraction, walking and cycling.

The National Data Hub will enable more targeted evidence-based interventions to prevent serious injuries and measure the effectiveness of those treatments. Consistent with the National Road Safety Strategy we will work with data custodians across sectors to create a framework to support a timely ongoing data series.³⁶

The importance of research and innovation for improved road safety outcomes is critical.

Key strategies

78. Working with key agencies and organisations to implement data linkages and processes;
79. Research and innovation is required for road safety to better understand current and emerging road safety issues and to develop countermeasures that are relevant in a local context;
80. Development of an accessible online road safety information portal providing accurate and timely information for the community, local councils, universities and others;
81. Development of more sophisticated analysis and modelling tools to identify what measures will have the greatest impact on road safety; and
82. Enabling provision of data via the national road safety data hub to build the national picture of road safety.

Links with other strategies

In developing this Strategy we have considered other strategic documents, including the:

• National Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030
• 20-Year State Infrastructure Strategy
• State Public Health Plan 2019-2024
• Railway Crossing Safety Strategy
• Closing the Gap 2021
• Game On: Getting South Australia Moving
• Vehicle SETUP 2020, and
• Heavy Vehicle Safety Strategy 2021–2025.
• National Serious Injury Strategy 2020-2030
• South Australian Government Climate Change Action Plan 2021 -2025
• South Australia’s Electric Vehicle Action Plan
• National Level Crossing Safety Strategy for 2021-2030