Australian Transport Council has developed a strategy paper called " The National Road safety strategy 2001-2010". In this paper it has developed a comprehensive strategic objectives to reduce the road fatalities per 100,00 population by 40% from 9.3 in 1999 to 5,6 in 2010. The strategic objectives are as follows.
Improve road user behavior, improve the safety of roads, improve vehicle compatibility and occupant protection, use new technology to reduce human error, improve equity among road users, improve trauma, medical and retrieval services, improve road safety programs through safety outcomes and encourage alternative to motor vehicle use. In this paper to achieve these objectives they have developed strategies to achieve specific strategic objectives.
In this paper to improve road user behavior it has proposed to use public information campaigns in conjunction with law enforcement and novice driver training, licensing procedures as a strategy for young people and for experienced drivers a strategy of coordinated public information campaigns. In addition, they also propose to enhance community participation in local level it encourages local government to provide local advocacy for roads safety and road safety projects.
To achieve the strategic objective of improving the safety of roads this paper proposes measures such as improving the estimation of the cost of crashes used in the economic evaluation of road improvement options, use of safety audits in assuring safety outcomes from road improvement projects or to plan proposed major development, conducting investigation considering all road users in existing road networks with a crash history and identifying remedial actions and improving road design and traffic engineering measures considering safer environment for cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians.
To improve protection of occupants in a vehicle and non-occupants this paper suggests develop strategy, which is controlled by consumer demand for safety issues of vehicles as well as regulation of vehicle compatibility and occupant protection as well consumers will be assisted by making available the information about the relative safety of new and used vehicles.
In this report to reduce human error it has been suggested by using emerging new technology such as intelligent systems in vehicles and also by incorporating in the design of outside road systems so that the road rules are enforced and driver lapses of concentration and incorrect decisions are informed in time so that the driver can correct his inappropriate decisions in time to avoid accidents and abide by the road rules when using the road system. This report has highlighted that Austrians' e-transport-The National strategy for Intelligent Transport System has estimated that an overall reduction of road crashes and congestion and vehicle emissions of at least 12% is achievable by 2012 by using this new technology such as Intelligent Transport Systems which is an engineering solution for the road safety issues of Australia.
In Australia, not all users enjoy the same level of safety in the road system. These groups involve youth, indigenous people, old people, people in rural and remote areas, occupants in different vehicles which as different mass and vehicle features, pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, people of non-English speaking background, people with disabilities, tourists and those facing socio-economic disadvantage. To improve equity among road users for road safety this report suggests implementing programs such as Austroads' National Action Plan and Youth Road Safety and Road safety aspects of Australia Cycling- The National Strategy. This report has highlighted the importance to improve trauma, medical and retrieval services. In this respect it has suggested to improve the trauma systems, communication, better transport, better training of medical and medics and first aid training of public.
This report also highlighted to invest in research to identify the causes of crash, consequences of crash, to study the effectiveness of current road safety counter measures as well to identify further road safety counter measures to reduce road crashes and severity of crashes. Research will enable to provide solid foundation to develop effective road safety counter measures to further reduce road crashes substantially in a cost effective manner by allocation resources to the more risk areas and developing effective strategies based on research reducing human error and the factors affecting it.
As well, this report also has suggested to encourage alternative to the use of motor vehicle such as land-use planning that reduce the need for transport of goods and reduce the need for transport of people, transport planning that integrates transport systems to improve the quality and effectiveness of transport, expansion of telecommuting and other measures which reduce the need to travel and promoting the benefits of public transport, cycling and walking.
Conclusion
Australian transport system is complex as discussed above. The causes of accidents on roads are very complex and the human error is the primary cause of accidents on the road of New South Wales. The SHELL Model is described above is a useful tool to analyze the human risk taking behavior as depicted in my abstract because it helps the authorities to study how human behavior can be negatively impact by road environment, in appropriate use of technology, social and other environmental factors and ineffective software such as licensing procedures poor law enforcement procedures and the road system it self because of poor roads and ineffective speed control technology etc. In this manner, it can create scenarios to study how to improve the behavior, intentions and training of drivers and use of transport system technology to minimize driver error by changing the combination of environmental factors software and hardware in a cost effective manner to change driver behavior, intentions so that the authorities can develop effective counter measures to reduce risk taking behavior and there fore reduce the probability of accidents in areas, where there has to be substantial reduction possible or the accident rate is comparatively high.
