Aboriginal Road Safety On Right Track

A licensing and driver safety program, website and Facebook page have been launched for the State’s Indigenous people.

The new website, On the Right Track, was developed and delivered by the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure’s Aboriginal Road Safety and Driver Licensing Team in the Safety and Policy Programs Directorate.

It promotes key themes such as family, love and care for community.

Minister for Road Safety, Tony Piccolo said South Australia was the first jurisdiction to provide a website designed specifically for Aboriginal people around road safety and driver licensing.

“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up an estimated 2 per cent of the State’s population but account for 4 per cent of the total number of South Australian residents killed in road crashes in Australia,” Mr Piccolo said.

“This trend is unacceptable, and I believe that resources such as this new website will help to engage Aboriginal people on road safety issues.”

He said the website aligned with the Road Safety Action Plan 2013–2016 in providing support to increase the capacity of Aboriginal communities to gain their Driver’s Licence as well as supporting them to become safer drivers and passengers.

Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Kyam Maher welcomed the launch of the website during National NAIDOC Week.

“On the Right Track attempts to connect with Aboriginal people by acknowledging their cultural needs through visuals and, where possible, familiar language to convey important messages,” Mr Maher said.

He said the website took into account that for some Aboriginal people, their traditional language was their first language.

The website has several resources available in the Pitjantjatjara language, with the aim to make more resources available in this language, and other SA Aboriginal languages in the future.

A Facebook page has also been launched to provide information and alerts about driver licensing services for people in remote communities within the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) and Maralinga Tjarutja Lands and can be found at this PS News link.

The website, including new safety videos, can be found here.