CARRS-Q

Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland
Established 1996
Director Professor Narelle Haworth
Academic staff
 31
Administrative staff
 13
Postgraduates 4
41
Location Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Campus Kelvin Grove
Affiliations Queensland University of Technology
Website http://www.carrsq.qut.edu.au

The Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland (CARRS-Q) is a research centre established in 1996.

It is based at the Kelvin Grove campus of Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Queensland, Australia and is part of both the Faculty of Health and the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI).

The Centre was established as a joint venture of the Motor Accident Insurance Commission (MAIC)[1] and QUT, and also receives funding from competitive research grants for specific projects. CARRS-Q's stated vision is "for a safer world in which injury-related harm is uncommon and unacceptable",[2] which it works toward by conducting research, training road safety professionals, running drink-driver rehabilitation and fleet safety programs, and giving awards to other organisations or individuals for successful road safety initiatives.

Areas of research

CARRS-Q's areas of research are currently divided into Intelligent Transport Systems, Occupational Road Safety, Regulation and Enforcement, Road Safety Infrastructure, School and Community Injury Prevention, and Vulnerable Road Users.[1] The Centre is part of the School of Psychology and Counselling in QUT's Faculty of Health,[3] and some of its researchers have psychology qualifications[4] and focus on the behavioural aspects of road safety.[5]

Teaching activities

Through Queensland University of Technology, CARRS-Q offers a Graduate Certificate[6] or Graduate Diploma[7] in Road Safety for people who are already working in, or want to enter the field,[8] as well as short courses in crash site investigation and statistical evaluation.[9] It also has Masters and PhD students, some of whom are concurrently employed as Research Officers.[10]

Research Interventions

The Centre has two self-funding research interventions, the Fleet Safety program[11] and the Under the Limit (UTL) drink-driver rehabilitation program.[12]

Organisations that want to improve occupational health and safety (and thus, reduce costs and risks) in their vehicle fleets can engage the Fleet Safety team to conduct a range of services including driver profiling and policy development.[13] Workshops, both for fleet managers (using case studies to explore legal obligations and data-collection processes) and professional drivers (focusing on awareness, attitude and behaviours) are conducted,[14] and a series of Fleet Safety seminars have been held.[15] Fleet Safety is sometimes referred to as Work Related Road Safety.

Convicted drink drivers are referred to the Under the Limit program (in conjunction with a probation order) through the Magistrates' Court of Queensland.[16] Completion of the program has been shown to reduce repeat drink-driving offences, although it does not change participants' intentions to drink.[17] The UTL program is held at Technical and Further Education (TAFE) campuses and in 2009 received the Queensland Crime & Violence Prevention Award from the Government of Australia's Australian Institute of Criminology.[18][19]

Research facilities

CARRS-Q has a range of equipment used in road safety research on driver behaviour, including an instrumented four-wheel drive (4WD) vehicle and a driving simulator.

The instrumented 4WD is equipped with sensors such as a multimedia datalogger, physiological devices (EEG, ECG and EMG), laser scanner, radars and eye trackers.[20]

The CARRS-Q Driving Simulator was officially launched on 19 March 2010.[21] It is based on a Holden Commodore sedan that was donated for the purpose, and sits on a six degrees of freedom motion platform.[22]

Queensland Road Safety Awards

The Queensland Road Safety Awards (QRSA) were first held in the year 2000[23] and are a joint initiative of CARRS-Q and the RACQ to "recognise and honour the outstanding efforts of individuals and groups who have started projects or programmes to improve safety on Queensland roads".[24]

Collaboration

CARRS-Q has links with similar organisations worldwide, such as the French National Institute for Transportation Safety Research (INRETS) and University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), through exchange of visiting researchers[25] and collaboration on research papers.[26]

References

  1. 1 2 Queensland Government - Motor Accident Insurance Commission "CONROD and CARRS-Q", 2009. Retrieved on 11 November 2009 and 12 March 2012.
  2. ↑ Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland "CARRS-Q: About Us: Our Vision, Mission and Key Outcomes", 2009. Retrieved on 11 November 2009.
  3. ↑ QUT Faculty of Health, School of Psychology & Counselling "Faculty of Health: Psychology and Counselling: About The School", 2009. Retrieved on 11 November 2009.
  4. ↑ Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland "CARRS-Q: Staff Profiles: Academic Research Staff", 2009. Retrieved on 11 November 2009.
  5. ↑ QUT ePrints &keywords=behaviour&order=-date%2Fcreators_name%2Ftitle "Advanced Search: Affiliation matches any of "Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety - Qld (CARRS-Q)" AND Keywords matches "behaviour", 2009. Retrieved on 11 November 2009.
  6. ↑ Queensland University of Technology "PY40 Graduate Certificate in Road Safety", 2009. Retrieved on 12 November 2009.
  7. ↑ Queensland University of Technology "PY41 Graduate Diploma in Road Safety", 2009. Retrieved on 12 November 2009.
  8. ↑ Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland "CARRS-Q Alumni Profiles", 2009. Retrieved on 12 November 2009.
  9. ↑ Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland "CARRS-Q: Road Safety Training and Education", 2009. Retrieved on 12 November 2009.
  10. ↑ Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland "CARRS-Q Postgraduate Students", 2009. Retrieved on 12 November 2009.
  11. ↑ Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland "Work Related Road Safety", 2009. Retrieved on 12 November 2009.
  12. ↑ Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland "Under the Limit (UTL) Drink Driver Education Program", 2009. Retrieved on 12 November 2009.
  13. ↑ Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland "Work Related Road Safety", 2010. Retrieved on 13 April 2010.
  14. ↑ Qfleet: Queensland Government, Department of Public Works "Journey: CARRS-Q - Driver training", 2008. Retrieved on 13 April 2010.
  15. ↑ Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland "Archive of Past CARRS-Q Events", 2010. Retrieved on 13 April 2010.
  16. ↑ Legal Aid Queensland "Drink driving offences" 2006. Retrieved on 12 November 2009.
  17. ↑ Australian Government Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government "CR 187: The Impact of the "Under the Limit" Drink Driving Rehabilitation Program on the Lifestyle and Behaviour of Offenders (2001)", 17 June 2008. Retrieved on 12 November 2009.
  18. ↑ Australian Institute of Criminology. "2009 Australian Crime & Violence Prevention Awards", 9 November 2009. Retrieved on 12 November 2009.
  19. ↑ Australian Institute of Criminology "Qld drink driving rehabilitation receives anti-crime award", 29 October 2009. Retrieved on 12 November 2009.
  20. ↑ Queensland University of Technology: "Inside QUT: 4WD mindset", 2006. Retrieved on 15 April 2010.
  21. ↑ Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland "CARRS-Q: Advanced Driving Simulator", 2010. Retrieved on 10 March 2010.
  22. ↑ Queensland University of Technology "QUT CARRS-Q driving simulator launch", 24 March 2010. Retrieved on 30 March 2010.
  23. ↑ Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland "QRSA: Previous Winners", 2009. Retrieved on 11 November 2009.
  24. ↑ Royal Automobile Club of Queensland "RACQ: Road Safety Awards", 2008. Retrieved on 11 November 2009.
  25. ↑ Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland "Staff Profiles: Visiting Research Staff", 2009. Retrieved on 12 November 2009.
  26. ↑ Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland "Research Publications", 2009. Retrieved on 12 November 2009.

Coordinates: 27°27′05.55″S 153°00′58.91″E / 27.4515417°S 153.0163639°E / -27.4515417; 153.0163639

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