Stages of change in the Australian workplace and its application to driver education

Abstract

High social and financial costs are currently being incurred by both industry and society as a result of work related road incidents. It is estimated that worldwide 50 million people are injured and an additional 1.2 million people are killed annually in road crashes (WHOR, 2004). More specifically it has been estimated that in Australia, the total cost of work related road incidents may be in the range of $1 billion to $1.5 billion per annum (Wheatley, 1997) and that the average total insurance cost of a fleet incident is approximately $28,000 with costs incurred to both the company and society (Davey & Banks, 2005). Additionally, motor vehicle incidents are the most common mechanism for Australian compensated fatalities, representing 35 percent of all work compensated deaths (ASCC, 2006). In attempt to reduce the frequency and severity of work related road incidents, some organisations implement driver education.