Thirteen projects have been successful in securing support from Round 1 of the Federal Government’s Road Safety Innovation Fund.
The projects, all aimed at reducing road fatalities, will share in $2 million over the next four years.
Funded projects range from protecting vulnerable users including pedestrians, cyclists and children, through to crash prediction models, improving night visibility of signs, boosting heavy vehicle safety by trialling automated inspection capabilities and driver decline sensitivity testing.
In Round 1, there were 104 applications for grant funding, demonstrating strong community interest in this important road safety initiative.
The successful projects are as follows:
University of New South Wales, for identifying measures sensitive to declining safety due to progressive driver decline from dementia to better inform drivers, families and clinicians and support the development of appropriate in-vehicle road safety devices and apps.
Northern Territory Government, for investigating alternative pathways to increase the delivery of drink and drug driver online learning resource.
Sage Automation, for testing deployment and evaluation of smart school zones systems.
City of Busselton, for testing innovative technology to warn motorists of cyclists ahead.
University of Newcastle, for investigating how long an operator can stay engaged in an automated vehicle (AV) when they are not actually driving to support future regulation of journey length for AVs.
Federation University, for the development of a virtual rail concept to reduce corner cutting by semi-trailers in order to protect vulnerable road users.
Queensland University of Technology, for the development of a generalised mathematical program to better predict road crash frequency and severity.
University of the Sunshine Coast, for the development of a cycling incident reporting tool.
SmarterLite, for enhancing cost-effective and low light and night-time visibility of road signs, line marking and pavement marking by testing the performance of photoluminescence.
University of South Australia, for testing user experience methods for older vulnerable road users to assess future pedestrian road safety infrastructure needs.
Mobility and Accessibility for Children and Adults, for stimulating product design and development to eliminate buckle release risks for children with a disability.
The George Institute for Global Health, for investigating the effectiveness of alternative training methods to achieve the proper fitment of child car restraints throughout rural and remote areas.
Industrial Monitoring and Control, for testing automated thermographic tools and their effectiveness in assisting road heavy vehicle inspections.
Funding innovation to keep Australian roads safe
These projects further complement the Government’s recent $500 million commitment for a Targeted Road Safety package to help keep Australians safe as the nation’s drivers emerge from COVID-19 restrictions.
The Road Safety Innovation Fund complements the Federal Government’s other road safety initiatives, including the $4 million Road Safety Awareness and Enablers Fund, which is helping to deliver targeted educational campaigns to reduce risky behaviour and increase road safety awareness, installing life-saving speed signage and collaborating with the community on decreasing road trauma.
Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, Michael McCormack, said the Federal Government is committed to reducing road injuries and fatalities and this is just one of many targeted initiatives.
“Finding innovative ways to make safety front of mind for all road users is key to supporting the Safe System principles – an inclusive approach to road safety that underpins the National Road Safety Strategy that has been agreed by all Governments,” Mr McCormack said.
Round 2 of the Road Safety Innovation Fund is expected to open in late 2020. To apply, and for more information on the Federal Government’s road safety initiatives, visit www.officeofroadsafety.gov.au.
