In this month’s newsletter, meet a CADROSA member from my alma mater, Dr Ioni Lewis. Not only do Ioni and I regularly see each other at road safety and injury prevention-related meetings, conferences, and events, we live locally and catch up over coffee! I hope you enjoy hearing about the great work she is undertaking in the advertising space.
 
I am also excited to introduce the newly-appointed CADROSA Administrative Assistant, Ms Natalie Watson-Brown. Welcome aboard, Natalie! As CADROSA grows, we need someone who can help coordinate our efforts, seek financial support (who says no to money to support research and intervention?!? CADROSA is no different!), and further our reach and impact. Read on to learn more about Natalie.
 
Finally, remember that we are always seeking partners in motorised countries around the world to further our understanding of adolescent road risk, so that we can successfully intervene and prevent crashes on the global stage. Therefore we encourage you to distribute this newsletter throughout your network.

Kind regards

Bridie, Founder
CADROSA

Ioni has 15 years’ experience in road safety and traffic psychology research. She is based at the Queensland University of Technology’s (QUT) Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland (CARRS-Q) where she is currently a Senior Research Fellow. Ioni’s expertise is in the development and evaluation of road safety advertising messages, drawing upon social psychological perspectives. She has led the development of an innovative conceptual framework, The Step approach to Message Design and Testing (SatMDT) which she has applied in relation to the development and evaluation of road safety campaigns addressing high risk behaviours. Ioni has an extensive publication record comprising peer-reviewed journals, peer-reviewed full papers and abstracts for conferences, as well as reports for Government and Industry. Ioni has received invitations to present at international and national forums on the topic of road safety advertising design and evaluation.

As readers of the CADROSA newsletter would be acutely aware, the overrepresentation of young people in road trauma occurs not only in Australia but around the world. Ongoing, concerted efforts remain crucial to understand the factors influencing, as well as help identify evidence-based initiatives to reduce, adolescent road risk. I see CADROSA as offering a means for researchers to share up-to-date knowledge from studies conducted from around the world and to potentially connect with others working in the field and who are also focused on helping to reduce road trauma among young people.

I consider myself most fortunate because I have been able to continue on working in the area of road safety advertising message design and evaluation since my very first study in the area which was my Honours project. Subsequent to my Honours project, I was awarded an Australian Postgraduate PhD scholarship to extend upon my earlier Honours work. At the completion of my PhD, I was awarded research fellowships including an Australian Research Council (ARC) Postdoctoral Industry Fellowship (APDI) to conduct research with the Transport Accident Commission on designing and evaluating anti-speeding messages with a particular focus on identifying effective messages for young drivers.

I am excited about this opportunity provided by Dr Bridie Scott-Parker to be part of CADROSA. I am committed to the growth of CADROSA. I aim to maximise our membership through aligning with local and international organisations, industry, and individual researchers. I look forward to discussing all member’s ideas for research projects and most importantly getting to know everyone. Our growth and imminent success can only be achieved through the coordination of your ideas and efforts. I am hopeful we can achieve a global impact. This impact will attract prospects to further our research aims and create new approaches to the challenges of adolescent road safety. This global impact is critical to achieve the momentum for change within the adolescent road safety arena. Ultimately our goal is to reduce the current levels of road trauma. This is not a global issue to be undertaken by individuals or independent countries. Adolescent road safety needs a coordinated effort from a team of nations to produce urgent change given the current rates of adolescent road crashes.

The CADROSA initiative represents a change to the way we approach research which is necessary for global impact. This impact is critical to influence road safety stakeholders to enable reduced adolescent road crashes. Such innovation enthuses me. I am excited by the potential of global research collaborations. CADROSA provides a platform for endless possibilities with the contributions and collaborations from like-minded road safety passionate researchers with diverse expertise and experiences. These aims and values of CADROSA ensure high quality, rigorous, and well-informed research. This is an exciting opportunity which aligns with my values and goals as a researcher. I applied for this position to be a part of a pioneering organisation which will lead the way forward in road safety research and develop approaches to reduce adolescent road trauma which could not be achieved by individuals alone.

Dr Bridie will be attending the Australasian Road Safety Conference in Perth in October, sharing research findings relating to a multi-agency high risk young drivers collaboration, and research findings relating to an innovative young driver intervention that targets parents. If you would like to meet with Dr Bridie during the conference, please feel free to email beforehand (bscottpa@usc.edu.au), or come to the CADROSA information session which will be advertised at the registration desk.

Dr Bridie will also be attending the Road Safety and Simulation International Conference in The Netherlands in October, sharing findings relating to the simulator-based young driver intervention that targets parents. If you would like to meet with Dr Bridie during the conference, please feel free to email beforehand (bscottpa@usc.edu.au).

Here on the Sunshine Coast I spent some time with partners at Youi, promoting road safety for all road users, whether they are drivers, cyclists, motorcyclists or pedestrians. While ALL road safety promotion is important, a key emphasis for the visit was the considerable role that speeding plays in our road toll. Being able to chat first-hand with everyday road users, in a relaxed environment, and being able to send them ‘back to their work day’ with a handful of informative but engaging resources is just one way we can make a difference.