Winners of the inaugural 3M-ACRS Diamond Road Safety Award were officially announced and recognised last Thursday night at the 2011 ACRS Road Safety Conference Dinner in Melbourne. The award is the result of a new partnership between the Australasian College of Road Safety (ACRS) and 3M and in a joint effort to improve road safety by encouraging and sharing best practice in road safety.
This new award encourages entries from any person or group practising in road safety to submit highly innovative, cost-effective road safety initiatives/programmes recently developed within Australia that stand out from normal practice and deliver significant improvements in road safety for the community.
“The application process for the award was advertised widely and we were almost overwhelmed with applications” said ACRS President, Lauchlan McIntosh. “Individuals, partnerships, community groups, local and state government agencies submitted real programs that are all making a contribution to reducing crashes and reducing death and injury. Some specifically targetted a particular problem, while others offered support for victims to encourage better understanding of the many issues around improving road safety results.”
The inaugural award was presented to a community group in North Queensland for its RAPTAR project (Reduce Accidents, Prevent Tragedy & Achieve Results). Led by Sergeant Michael Musumeci of the Queensland Police Service in Ravenshoe, the project was built on national, state and police plans, analysis of local data, engagement of stakeholders, including owners of licensed premises, council road specialists, state government officials, and community and business leaders. “Not only were behavioural issues researched and addressed by reducing hours of sale of alcohol and realistic targeting of enforcement, but similar realistic targeting of cost effective road infrastructure maintenance and hazard reduction was identified and completed” said Mr McIntosh.
As part of the grand prize, Michael Musumeci will travel to the USA to attend the 42nd ATSSA Annual Convention & Traffic Expo in Florida and 3M Headquarters in Minneapolis in February 2012 to promote his winning project.
The judging committee also awarded two high commendations. The first was awarded to Sandra Cook and Kerry Sunderland for their community support website, Journey Beyond Road Trauma. “We are really honoured to win this award,” said Kerry. “It is not only an award for Sandra and me, but for the whole JBRT community who have made the online social network what it is today.” The other highly commended award went to John Quee, an independent inventor who has designed a valve that can be installed in car engines to significantly reduce the risk of a petrol fire after a
collision.
“3M Australia is proud to partner with the ACRS and have the opportunity to sponsor this new Australian Road Safety award” said Andrew King, Division Manager of 3M Australia’s Traffic Safety Systems Division. “3M’s sponsorship of this award is part of our commitment to our employees, customers and the community, to contribute to the objectives of reducing road trauma.”