Narembeen Community Resource Centre has won the Insurance Commission Regional Safety Award at the 2018 Western Australian Regional Achievement and Community Awards for their week-long event S.O.C.K. – Save Our Country Kids.
The Insurance Commission sponsors the award to recognise community-led initiatives that promote road safety in regional areas.
Narembeen Community Resource Centre won the award and a $2,000 prize.
Following five road fatalities in 2016, all young people with direct links to Narembeen, the community responded by making the road safety message to the front of people’s minds and the S.O.C.K. campaign was created.
The Centre coordinated the week with activities including free coffee for drivers in specially decorated cups, ‘Fluro Friday’ hi-vis day, posters in shop windows and a display on tyre safety.
The local police visited the school and used ‘reverse ticketing’ to reward good driver behaviour.
Stories from those impacted by road tragedy were used on social media and the week culminated with a ‘One Minute Siren’ community remembrance event to those lost on local roads.
Narembeen Community Resource Centre coordinator Leanne Brooke-Mee said the community has had a bad history of decisions made on country roads.
“The S.O.C.K. campaign was designed to raise awareness of drivers needing to exercise better judgement when driving on rural roads to ensure that tragedy doesn’t strike again,” she said.
“We hope the campaign has influenced many minds, both young and old. S.O.C.K. will continue as an annual event and we want to use its success to invite other regional communities to get involved.”
The cost of crashes in regional Western Australia for the Insurance Commission was over $90 million last year and it received 2,400 new motor injury insurance claims.
It estimates that it will pay $1 billion in future expenses for regional claims received to date.
Insurance Commission secretary Kane Blackman congratulated the Narembeen Community Resource Centre on their achievement.
“The S.O.C.K. event really captured the judges’ attention with its coordinated approach to engage the entire community and influence driver behaviour,” he said.
“Road safety is so important in our regional communities because car crashes are still over-represented in those areas.
“For example, around half of catastrophic injuries occurred on regional roads but only 38 per cent of people catastrophically injured live there.
“And the impact of crashes has a more profound effect on smaller communities. As the state’s insurer, these awards help recognise regional initiatives that can prevent those crashes and minimise their impacts.”
