Since National Road Safety Partnership Program (NRSPP) was just a strategic concept at the National Transport Commission (NTC) Dr Ian Johnston OAM has held the position of Independent Chair. NRSPP was conceived in 2012 and formally launched by Prince Michael of Kent on 5 May 2014 in Melbourne as part of the UN Decade of Action.
Over that period Ian has chaired 17 Steering Committee meetings and seen the program grow significantly to feature prominently in the National Road Safety Action Plans and in the recent review into the National Road Safety Strategy. The program’s partner base now exceeds 100 organisations with over 2,500 registered subscribers to its newsletter.
Ian shared his passion for road safety with the NRSPP partners through the webinar Debunking the myths around “low level” speeding which Safe Work Australia featured as part of Safe Work Month.
A final major success was meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack in an effort to involve the Commonwealth in the NRSPP and provide leadership into the workplace road safety space.
Ian announced at the 17th Steering Committee meeting he intended to step down as the inaugural Chair. A short list of suitable candidates was compiled, and a selection committee formed with Prof. Barry Watson selected as the next Chair of the program.
NRSPP is proud to announce that Prof. Barry Watson has kindly accepted the role.
Barry is the past CEO of the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) with a long involvement in the Australian road safety community. Prior to being CEO of GRSP, he was Professor and Director at the Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety (CARRS-Q) from 2009 – 2015 where he is now currently a Professor, School of Psychology & Counselling, Queensland University of Technology (QUT).
Barry is keen to continue growing NRSPP, in particular leveraging off his close links with international networks such as GRSP and the US Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS). Besides expanding access to good practice information, such linkages can highlight emerging issues of importance in the road transport sector and new collaborative opportunities to address them.
Supporting Barry is Dr Mary Lydon who has accepted the role of Deputy Chair of NRSPP. Mary equally has over 40 years experience in road safety and is currently Non-Executive Director for the South Australian Motor Accident Commission.
Like Ian, Barry and Mary are both incredible global leaders in the area of road safety.
Welcome Barry and thank you Ian for your incredible and passionate support.