The Dr Charles H. Miller Award for 2011 was awarded on May 10th in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the Awards' Banquet of the 21st. Canadian Multidisciplinary Road Safety Conference. Dr. Robert Baird, Dalhousie University, in presenting the award for the wining paper, made the following remarks:

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen

It is a very real pleasure to have the opportunity to present the Dr. Charles H Miller Award for the paper selected as the Best Paper in CMRSC XXI.

Twenty nine years ago, almost to the day, Dr. Miller chaired the very first such conference, CMRSC I . Charlie addressed the closing banquet (lobster of course) and his audience was clearly a room full of researchers on a mission. The mission was to reduce the carnage on the world's highways and byways, primarily by making vehicles themselves safer to drive and more crashworthy in the event of such a misfortune. The group was largely male with most attendees working in relative isolation. Quite quickly over the following years a much safer vehicles emerged with collapsible steering columns, secure latches, shatter proof glass, seat belts, etc. and etc.

Today the mission remains the same but much has so obviously changed. The research group is no longer male dominated, the effort is, more often than not, collaborative and the activity focus has shifted from the nuts and bolts aspect of better vehicle design to the nut in control of the vehicle or, if you will, the human factor.

The winning paper in CMRSC XX I is an excellent example of this evolution. The paper is the product of researchers from three institutions in three different countries. The title of the paper is "Motorists Attitudes to Speed Limits in Australia" by Dr. Michael Keall of New Zealand, Nicole Van Ness from the Netherlands, and Dr. Brian Fildes, Dr. Julie Lahausse and Jim Langford from Australia.

The award will be accepted on behalf of the authors by Jim Langford from the Monash University Accident Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia."

Dr. Robert C. Baird
Halifax, Nova Scotia
May 10, 2011

Motorist’s Attitudes to Speed Limits in Australia; Brian Fildes, Julie Lahausse, Jim Langford, Michael Keall and Nicole van Ness; Proc. CMRSC-XXI; Halifax, Nova Scotia; May 8-11, 2011

Abstract: A collaborative research study was undertaken in four Australian states to assess community attitudes towards current speed limits and to identify some of the reasons for these attitudes. An on-line web-based survey conducted in each state yielded a total of 4100 responses from mainly licensed drivers aged 18 to over 55 years. The majority surveyed were in favour of reducing speed limits on two-lane 100km/h undivided rural roads and on rural gravel roads, but only about one-third supported lower limits in urban areas at this time. The survey showed that many respondents did not fully understand the role between speeding and speed limits and their association with crash risk, the environment and local amenity. The results also showed that respondents with higher levels of understanding were more likely to approve lower speed limits – suggesting from a safety perspective, the value in further promoting increased understanding of key speed-related issues. While the study was confined to a web-based volunteer sample with its potential bias, the results are encouraging for highlighting the need for new initiatives aimed at increasing knowledge about the consequences of speeding and its impact on amenity and the environment, as a means to support lowered speed limits in this country.

Résumé : Une étude de recherche concertée a été entreprise dans quatre États de l’Australie afin d’évaluer les attitudes des habitants de la collectivité en ce qui concerne les limites de vitesse et de déterminer les raisons pour lesquelles ils font preuve de telles attitudes. Un sondage sur le Web qui a été mené dans chaque État a permis d’obtenir 4 100 réponses de conducteurs détenant un permis qui étaient principalement âgés de plus de 18 ans. La majorité des personnes interrogées se prononçaient en faveur de la réduction des limites de vitesse des routes rurales à deux voies sans terre-plein central et des routes en gravier rurales de 100 km/h, mais seulement un tiers appuyaient la réduction des limites dans les secteurs urbains à l’heure actuelle. Le sondage a révélé que de nombreuses personnes interrogées ne comprenaient pas entièrement le rôle entre l’excès de vitesse et les limites de vitesse ainsi que leur lien avec le risque d’accident, à l’environnement et aux installations locales. Les résultats ont également démontré que les personnes interrogées qui avaient un meilleur niveau de compréhension étaient plus susceptibles d’accepter la réduction des limites de vitesse; sous l’angle de la sécurité, cela suggère qu’il serait avantageux de promouvoir davantage la compréhension accrue des questions clés liées à la vitesse. Même si l’étude se limitait à un échantillon de volontaires sur le Web qui peuvent avoir des préconceptions, les résultats tendent à encourager la mise en valeur de la nécessité d’adopter de nouvelles initiatives. Ces dernières viseraient à informer davantage les personnes des conséquences de l’excès de vitesse et de ses incidences sur les installations et l’environnement afin d’appuyer la réduction des limites de vitesse dans ce pays.

Brian Fildes (L) and Dale Faulkner (R)