A road safety expert at the University of the Sunshine Coast is urging motorists to take a very close look at how they personally behave on the road as part of this Sunday’s World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.

Senior Research Fellow Dr Bridie Scott-Parker, who recently founded the Consortium of Adolescent Road Safety (CADROSA), said the day was recognised by the United Nations and locally would honour the 1,209 people who died on Australian roads last year.

“This Sunday, I’d like people to reaffirm their commitment to safe driving, and be mindful of the ‘Fatal Five’ – speeding, drink and drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt, driving tired, and driving while distracted,” she said.

Dr Scott-Parker, who researches risky driver behaviour in adolescents, said every traffic crash death left a lasting impact on families, emergency services, and the wider community.

“It’s particularly tragic because, in most cases, these deaths are entirely preventable,” she said. “It’s also easy to forget about the number of people who are seriously injured in traffic crashes, and have to live with those injuries for the rest of their lives.

Dr Scott-Parker, who leads USC’s Adolescent Risk Research Unit, established CADROSA as an international road safety initiative to conduct multi-country road safety interventions aimed at young people.

She said the consortium was already working with research partners from countries as diverse as Russia, Nigeria, India, New Zealand and Germany.

“The aim of CADROSA is to provide one global rallying point for people who want to improve road safety for young people, because all communities are affected by this issue,” Dr Scott-Parker said.

“We want to collaborate and share the very best knowledge on how we can work towards eliminating road risks for every adolescent driver, passenger, pedestrian, motorcyclist, and cyclist.”

More information on CADROSA can be found at www.cadrosa.org.

— Gen Kennedy