The third Indigenous Road Safety Forum will be held in Broome, Western Australia, from 23-25 October 2006. Reducing the involvement of Indigenous Australians in fatal and serious road crashes is a key national road safety issue: Indigenous road users are at least three times more likely to be involved in a fatal road crash than non indigenous road users.
The forum will bring together road safety practitioners and others with an interest or involvement in Indigenous road safety from around Australia. It will consider a range of road safety issues affecting Indigenous road users with the aim of generating recommendations for action to address these issues. The forum is an initiative of the National Road Safety Action Plan 2005 and 2006.
On 23 October forum participants will travel from Broome to Beagle Bay – a remote Indigenous community – to experience first hand the road safety issues generally facing Indigenous communities. A meeting in the town hall will be arranged to enable forum participants to discuss issues with members of the Beagle Bay community.
The forum will be officially opened on 25 October by the Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads, Jim Lloyd MP. In the morning there will be a series of presentations on initiatives in the States and Territories to improve Indigenous road safety. In the afternoon, delegates will work in groups to address specific issues, including those identified in the ATSB commissioned research study Australian Indigenous Road Safety: 2005 Update. These issues include Indigenous road safety statistics, risky behaviour, sources of funding for road safety initiatives, involving and communicating with Indigenous communities, and evaluating initiatives. Group discussions will be facilitated by a nominated leader.
The Indigenous Road Safety Working Group will meet in the morning on 25 October. The Working Group comprises representatives from State and Territory road safety agencies. The work of the discussion groups and other matters identified during the forum will be considered by the Working Group in formulating a set of recommendations for implementation. Other forum participants are welcome to attend the Working Group meeting as observers.
The outcomes and recommendations of the forum will be presented to the Australian Transport Council of Ministers.
There will be no charge for participating in the forum. If you wish to participate, please contact Annette Bartlett on (02) 6274 7131 or email annette.bartlett@atsb.gov.au
More information about the forum is available on the Australian Transport Safety Bureau website at www.atsb.gov.au/road/indigenous_road_safety/indigenous_road_safety.aspx
