Citation

Suitor M. Proc. Australas. Coll. Road Saf. Conf. 2008; 4(Non-PR): 361-367.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Australasian College of Road Safety)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

In larger centres it seems that buses are being used more often as a way to get patrons home safely. However in smaller rural communities the cost of running a bus is prohibitive. This is why the Condobolin Liquor Accord with the assistance of Lachlan Shire Council's Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer, developed an alternative transport scheme utilising the local taxi company. A model which has taken the central west region of New South Wales by storm.

The premise of the scheme is to separate people from their vehicles before they start drinking. The project encouraged people to leave their cars at home and get rewarded for doing so. Catch Ya Later Condo was piloted for 16 weeks in 2007 with amazing success. Over 300 people utilised the scheme. Anecdotal feedback shows that less cars are parked outside pubs/clubs (even up to two months after the scheme was operational) and police recorded a drop in the number of drink driving offences detected.

Since its inception the model has attracted state-wide and national media attention and been trialled in 10 Liquor Accord areas during Christmas 2007.

In May 2008 the project won the Local Government Excellence in Road Safety Award at the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia (NSW Division) Conference. This paper will explain the alternative transport model and discuss the results of the Condobolin pilot.

Keywords: Drink driving, alternative transport, behaviour change, liquor accords