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Making public –private partnerships work for road safety

Author(s): Jane Edwards

Slidedeck Presentation Only (no paper submitted):

4A - Edwards

Abstract:

Background/Context: Road Safety remains a growing concern in our region and in Ontario. Using local data over a period of 4 years (2009-2013), it was established that the number of collisions resulting in fatal and serious injury have remained consistent within the City of London and Middlesex County. There were approximately 1300 severe collisions causing an injury or fatality per year, from 2011-2013.
The City of London partnered with stakeholders from the London Middlesex Road Safety Committee (LMRSC) to collect local data analyzing six major target areas where serious collisions occur on our roads. This data was used to create an integrated London Road Safety Strategy (LRSS). The strategy guides the LMRSC members to work together to create road safety programs that focus on the three principles of enforcement, engineering and education. The committee is composed of stakeholders from the municipality, county, police, public health, acute care hospital, college, emergency services, Block Parent Program, and private partners from Young Drivers of Canada, 3M Canada and Canadian Automobile Association.'

Aims/Objectives: 1) Create an educational road safety program using theory from the “Seven E’s of injury prevention”
2) Increase awareness of the campaign message and knowledge regarding the consequences of distracted driving
3) Foster community engagement between public and private sectors and build community capacity
4) Decrease the number of fatal and serious injuries on our roads'

Methods/Target Group: Population-based approach targeting drivers 16-45 years of age.
Results/Activities: The LMRSC created the Buckle Up, Phone Down London campaign that targets parents and teens through the promotion of a video, “Josh’s Story.” The video describes the tragic loss of a local teen to distracted driving and how that loss affected his family, friends and the community. The committee promoted Josh’s Story and Buckle Up, Phone Down through social media, on YouTube and in Cineplex movie theatres. Josh’s Story was viewed on You Tube over 65,000 times. In addition, the campaign included bus shelter ads, print materials, and cell phone screen cleaners to enhance the message and reach the target population outside of social media. Youth engagement was pursued through a high school video contest, while local and provincial police increased enforcement efforts through multiple blitzes and handed out campaign materials.

Discussion/Deliverables: Lessons Learned:
1) Missed opportunities – not making the connections with additional private partners working in the field of distracted driving who could have added support to the campaign.
2) Over saturation of similar messaging – with multiple organizations targeting distracted driving; was our message lost to over saturation?
3) Work with policy – public policy and organizational policy can be a barrier to developing public-private partnerships; how can we address these policy issues to promote collaboration?
4) Use emerging technology- to enhance the reach of messaging; multiple social media strategies work best.
5) Certain strategies work better than others for specific target audiences.

This information will be used to further foster public-private collaborations and to guide and improve how we deliver future road safety programs.