Abstract

Social and cultural barriers associated with inequitable access to driver licensing and associated road safety education, as well as socioeconomic issues that preclude ongoing vehicle maintenance and registration, result in unsafe in-car behaviours such as passenger overcrowding. This in turn is associated with improper seatbelt usage, noncompliance with child restraint mandates, and driver distraction. For example, in Australia, where seatbelt use is mandatory, Indigenous road users are three times less likely to wear seatbelts than non-Indigenous road users. This is associated with a disproportionately high fatality rate for Indigenous drivers and passengers; 21% of Indigenous motor-vehicle occupants killed on Australian roads were not wearing a seatbelt at the time of impact. In addition, inequitable access to driver licensing instruction due to financial and cultural barriers results in Indigenous learner drivers having limited access to qualified mentors and instructors. A consequent lack of road safety instruction results in a normalising of risky driving behaviours, perpetuated through successive generations of drivers. Moreover, culturally biased driver instruction manuals, which are contextualised within an English written-language learning framework, fail to accommodate the learning needs of Indigenous peoples who may encounter difficulties with English literacy. This results in difficulty understanding the fundamental road rules, which in turn makes it difficult for young drivers to develop and sustain safe in-car behaviours. This paper considers the literature regarding road safety for Indigenous road users and critically evaluates strategies and policies that have been advanced to protect Indigenous drivers. Novel solutions to increasing road safety rule compliance are proposed, particularly in relation to passenger safety, which are uniquely embedded within Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing. Safe driving practices have crucial health and social implications for Indigenous communities by allowing more Indigenous people to participate in work and education opportunities, access healthcare, maintain cultural commitments, and engage with families and friends, qualities which are essential for ongoing health and wellbeing.

Highlights

  • IntroductionRes. Public Health 2021, 18, 2446 of the risk factors in fatal and nonfatal car crashes identify alcohol use, non-use of seatbelt restraints, and passenger overcrowding as the top risk factors in death and serious injury [4]

  • Despite evidence spanning 20 years indicating that Australian Indigenous passengers in cars are at greater risk than non-Indigenous passengers, it remains a complex yet unresolved issue, connected to issues of culture, socioeconomic status, and systemic barriers associated with equitable access to necessary road safety resources

  • Of all transport fatalities and serious injuries, Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous people are represented, such that around 50% of transport fatalities and serious injuries for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people are from being the occupant of a car

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Summary

Introduction

Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 2446 of the risk factors in fatal and nonfatal car crashes identify alcohol use, non-use of seatbelt restraints, and passenger overcrowding as the top risk factors in death and serious injury [4]. Of the Indigenous road users hospitalised as a result of a car crash, over one-quarter were passenger occupants, with the vast majority of injuries associated with failing to wear a seatbelt restraint. This paper focuses on the use of seatbelts, child restraints, and overcrowded cars, given that these behaviours are known contributing factors to death and serious injury among Indigenous peoples [3]. Indigenous communities from a road-safety, sociocultural, and population perspective

The Issue
Systemic Barriers to Safe Driving in Indigenous Communities
Indigenous
Passenger
Passenger Behaviour—Overcrowding
Critical Evaluations of Previous Strategies
Buckle Up Safely
Bring the Mob Home Safely
Directions for Future Research
Theory-Driven Messaging
A Novel Solution
Findings
Conclusions
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