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Reality Check

1,300

people died on Australian roads in 2024. This has been steadily increasing and sits way above the Australian goal of no more than 571 lives lost per year by 2030. We have a long way to go to claim that victory and it is going to take all of us to make a difference! Four consecutive years of increasing statistics has not been seen since 1970. We are way off track!

The Issues

  • The number of fatalities on our roads is increasing. Although wearing seatbelts became legislation in 1971, there were 130 deaths in Victoria as a result of not wearing a seat belt in the five years leading to 2022, according to the Warrnambool newspaper The Standard (referenced here). The same report stated that 6000 distracted driver infringement notices were issued in July 2023 alone, for non-compliant seat belt wearing or mobile phone use. Many States are noted as experiencing an increased number of deaths, compared to the same time last year.

  • Recent advances in vehicle safety and technology along with improved driver education, has not been able to address this growing number.
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  • Research has shown that pre-hospital trauma deaths can be prevented, if active bystanders intervene immediately to maintain a clear airway and before Ambulance services arrive (Oliver, G.J, Walter, D.P, & Redmond, A.D, (2017). Prehospital deaths from trauma: Are injuries survivable and do bystanders help? Injury, Int, J, Care Injured, 48 (95). p985-991).

A New Approach

The Prepared Bystanders is a grass-roots solution to post-crash response. It is the community responding to a road incident from the moment it occurs (or soon after) through to handover to paramedical or medical aid.

It is often assumed this will not be long but the factors impacting on that we have recently seen includes Ambulances ramped at hospitals and unable to handover their patients to return "on the job", through to location-dependency from urban to regional to rural or outback. In some cases, the Ambulance can arrive within 15 minutes (which can still be detrimental to a life waiting without a clear airway) to possibly hours if waiting for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
This project aims to support the World Health Organisation's Decade of Action on Road Safety with a goal to contribute towards a 50% reduction in fatalities by 2030. ​This is part of the 'Towards Zero' campaign for 2050 that the Australian Government, States, Territories and communities are working towards. Having said that, it is not a government initiative (nor funded), but that of a woman who stops to help at road incidents and has observed other bystanders. One such incident inspired an educational campaign and led her into a Masters of Creative Industries. ​​The Prepared Bystanders is the forward movement of this academic work into the real world.

Vision

To empower community members to help keep people alive.

Mission

Provide post-crash response education and training to individuals and community groups.
        

The difference between a 'Bystander', an 'Active Bystander'
​and a 'Prepared Bystander'

Here is a short film I made to explain the project and my definition of Prepared Bystanders. I am grateful to the volunteer actors and film crew for this no-budget film made at short notice.

Help us get this project up and running

​Once The Prepared Bystanders is ready to launch, the plan is a low cost of close to $5 per month membership. To make that happen, we need philanthropic support to cover the costs to get the project to the point of launch. We have approval for fiscal sponsorship by Documentary Australia, and you can make a tax-deductible donation on their site from this link: ​https://documentaryaustralia.com.au/project/the-prepared-bystanders/ Thank you for your support of this community.