This week marks the Fourth UN Global Road Safety Week. As noted on the website, the focus is on speed and what can be done to address this key risk factor for road traffic deaths and injuries.
Speed contributes to around one-third of all fatal road traffic crashes in high-income countries, and up to half in low- and middle-income countries.
Countries successfully reducing road traffic deaths have done so by prioritizing safety when managing speed. Among the proven strategies to address speed include:
- Building or modifying roads to include features that calm traffic
- Establishing speed limits to the function of each road
- Enforcing speed limits
- Installing in-vehicle technologies
- Raising awareness about the dangers of speeding.
The Fourth UN Global Road Safety Week seeks to increase understanding of the dangers of speed and generate action on measures to address speed, thereby saving lives on the roads.
One of the ways that injury prevention researchers – such as myself – can increase their capacity for influence is working with others who also have the capacity for influence. Regular readers of the blog will recognise my repeated recommendation to connect, collaborate, and achieve; indeed I’ve often featured my perspectives regarding the many and varied benefits that arise from such actions.
Today, for something a little different, I am delighted to feature a blog written by my colleague, Ms Julia Carter, the Writer and Content Marketing Specialist at Youi Insurance, as she shares some thoughts regarding working with an injury prevention researcher:
At Youi, we know there’s a huge gap in the car insurance market. Insurers are providing cover for when things go wrong on the road, but what are we actually doing to prevent those things from happening?
Knowledge is Power
We believe we have a responsibility as insurers to help protect our customers the best we can, and not just by offering them cover for a range of insured events, but by equipping them with tools and resources that help avoid those events in the first place.
Engage an Expert
In addition to regularly writing articles about road safety and publishing them on our “On The Road” blog, we have partnered with Dr. Bridie Scott-Parker to focus on injury prevention. Dr. Bridie’s expertise perfectly complements our content mission to raise awareness for road safety. We are currently finalizing production for a new VLOG featuring Dr Bridie’s research, which we hope will engage and inspire various road users to commit to road safety.
Be Seen to be Heard
Of course sometimes the easiest way to get people to listen is to speak directly to them. That’s why we recently hosted a #SlowDownDay as part of the 4th annual United Nations Global Road Safety Week. The event encouraged our staff to take a few minutes out of their busy day to slow down, grab a snack and learn about road safety from experts in the field, including Dr. Bridie and the Queensland Fire & Emergency Services. We also invited our partners from the Sunshine Coast Animal Refuge to share some tips on preventing animal collisions, and Automotive Service Centres (ABS) discussed the importance of regular car servicing and brake check-ups to ensure safe driving.
Strength in Skills & Numbers
One thing we’ve learned since taking this more robust approach to road safety awareness is that people want to stay safe on the roads. Everyone’s been touched by a road collision in some way or another, and we all agree that we need to do our part in making the roads a safer place for everyone. That said, we have found that getting people to take the time to read or watch content about road safety requires a variety of skills. In this day and age of social media and information overload, there is so much content online that most of it just gets lost. Having someone as enthusiastic and passionate as Dr. Bridie deliver road safety education is instrumental, but we also need to host that content in the right place, boost it through the right channels, and throw all of our resources behind it to ensure the message gets across.
We are extremely excited about what the future of this partnership holds and its potential to bring Dr. Bridie’s research to a wider audience through a strategic content marketing approach. We encourage all businesses and individuals to seek out local road safety authorities and create similar partnerships, because when it comes to injury prevention, there is strength in numbers.